Babysitting the Benders and Bumi
by iPods-and-Tea
Summary: Stories about what happens when each member of the gaang has to babysit the kids: Kya, Bumi, Tenzin, Lin, and Zuko's daughter, Ursa, aka Honora.
1. Sokka

_Sokka_

"Okay, Sokka, you know the rules, right?" Katara said sternly to her elder brother.

"Yes, yes, of course I do, Katara…You only go over them a thousand times every time I babysit," Sokka replied.

"Well, Sokka, it is a huge responsibility and there was that one time Tenzin almost drowned on your watch," Aang added.

"I'm their uncle, I think I can handle things," Sokka said shooing them off.

"Yes, but this time you're not just watching your niece and nephews. You forget that Ursa and Lin are here too. Where is Suki when you need her…" Katara grumbled.

"Suki has been on Kyoshi Island all week, you know that and I'm more than capable of watching these guys. My question is why do you all have to go away at the same time!" Sokka growled.

"Well, there's a meeting in Republic City and it's very important. You're going to deal with it later on with the council, I'm sure." Aang replied.

"I know, I know. You guys better go or you'll be late," Sokka said.

"Okay, be careful with them, Sokka," Katara said worriedly.

"They'll be fine, Katara," Sokka assured.

"Alright, thanks again, Sokka, we'll see you later! Yip-yip!" Aang said as he flew off with his wife on Appa.

"Yeesh, I thought they'd never leave!" Bumi exclaimed as he nudged his uncle.

"So, Uncle Sokka, what fun games do you have planned this time? You're not going to drink cactus juice this time, right?" Kya said excitedly.

"How about the game where I don't lose any of you. I have five kids to keep a track of. Let's take attendance…" Sokka stated, "Okay, so, Kya?"

"Here, Uncle Sokka…" Kya mumbled.

"I'm just double checking!" Sokka insisted, "Bumi?"

"I've been next to you the entire time!" Bumi said.

"Good. Tenzin?" Sokka said.

"Here…" Tenzin whined as he struggled with being tied up with some metal wire by Lin.

"You look like you've got yourself roped up there, buddy," Sokka teased and Tenzin just pouted.

"Okay, Lin?" Sokka said.

"Over here!" Lin called, waving her hands as she ate a cupcake from the platter that Suki had baked and prepared before she left.

"Alright…Ursa?" Sokka called, but there was no reply. "…Ursa?" Sokka said once more. "Aw, man…Ursa! Hey…Princess Ursa…? You around?"

"Maybe she's outside," Bumi suggested as Lin sniggered.

"Zuko is _literally _going to kill me if I lost his _precious, little princess_! Where'd she go? Do you guys know where Ursa is, seriously?" Sokka said beginning to get panicked, as Lin just laughed some more.

"Maybe she's burning stuff somewhere," Lin teased as she continued to laugh.

"Lin knows," Tenzin tattled.

"Lin!" Sokka snapped.

"Okay, okay, I locked her in the attic," Lin confessed, laughing.

"The attic?" Sokka said sternly, but suppressing a laugh, "Why? How did she _not_ get out?"

"_This _is how!" Tenzin exclaimed, still struggling in the metal wire he was tied in. "Lin tied us all up with her mom's police wire!"

"Lin! Your mother will have your head!" Sokka said as he snatched the wire away and began to march upstairs to untie Ursa. "Don't do anything stupid in the meantime I'm upstairs! Tenzin, you're in charge!"

"Tenzin is seven, Uncle Sokka," Kya added.

"I know how old my nephew is!" Sokka growled, "He's still the most mature of the lot of you." Sokka said as he then went upstairs.

"Did you hear that, Uncle Sokka said I'm most mature!" Tenzin boasted, pointing his thumb to himself pridefully.

"Most mature and least fun, Twinkletoes," Lin grumbled, throwing her hands on her hips. Meanwhile, Sokka was untying the tight wire Lin had metalbent around Ursa.

"I would've been stuck up here forever if you hadn't come, Uncle Sokka!" Ursa exclaimed.

"Eh, not on your dad's watch," Sokka teased.

"When I get my hands on Lin, she's in for the biggest firebending lesson of her life!" Ursa shouted angrily.

"Okay, okay, how about we just calm down there, Princess!" Sokka said as Ursa's hands flared up with blue fire. "There's no need for that, I'm sure Lin's very sorry. And you two are best friends, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so…" Ursa grumbled. As Sokka finally undid the bonded wire.

"Now, what are we _not_ going to do?" Sokka warned, extending his arm from blocking the girl from racing ahead.

"…Erm, disrupt the balance of the world?" Ursa guessed.

"Well, yeah, that's always a good thing not to do. But, what are we not going to do at the moment?" Sokka warned.

"Drink your cactus juice when you're not looking?" Ursa guessed again and Sokka's eyes bolted wide open.

"Well, yes, _never_ do _that _again, but what else?" Sokka hinted.

"…Get angry and burn daddy's papers again?" Ursa guessed.

"No! Well, you probably shouldn't do that either…But we're not going to go down and light Lin _on fire_, okay?" Sokka said.

"Oh yeah…" Ursa said with a laugh.

"I'm serious! I know Lin can be a little…_edgy_ sometimes, but it's all out of love, trust me. It's the same as her mother, Toph would torment me, and your dad too, to no end, heck, and she still does! But it's all out of love," Sokka exclaimed.

"I know," Ursa said with a smile.

"Alright, good," Sokka said as he ruffled her hair, "Now I better get back down there before someone else ends up tied up with some of Aunt Toph's police metal." Sokka said with a chuckle as they both went downstairs.

"Hey, Ursa!" Lin said with a beaming, apologetic smile.

"You're lucky I don't light your head on fire!" Ursa said.

"Ursa, what did we just talk about…" Sokka said with a sigh. "Geez, Fire Nation people and their tempers…"

"She's not the only one who's mad!" Tenzin growled, "So it's not nation exclusive!"

"Lin, don't you have something to say for yourself?" Sokka stated.

"…Fine, I'm sorry that you guys aren't better benders to defend yourselves against my metalbending. There, Uncle Sokka," Lin stated with a devious grin.

"I'll show you who's the better bender!" Ursa shouted, sprouting a blue flame in her hand.

"No, no, _no_, we all know you're a great bender, Ursa!" Sokka said, "And, Lin, come on, be a bigger person!"

"Okay, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have tied you up," Lin said bitterly as Sokka's raised an eyebrow, urging her to continue, and Lin sighed, "_And_ I'm sorry I locked you in the attic…"

"Okay, good. Now we're all friends again, right?" Sokka said and they nodded.

"Uncle Sokka, can you tell us a story?" Kya asked with bright, wide eyes.

"Sure! That's a great idea, Kya! Now, gather 'round, kiddos, Uncle Sokka is going to share some more of his famous tales!" Sokka said as he sat down on a sofa and urged the kids to sit around on the rug. "So, would you like to hear the story about how I single-handedly took out the Fire Lord with my trusty boomerang and space sword?"

"That's not how Mom and Dad said it went…" Bumi mumbled.

"Yeah, my dad says that Uncle Aang did it," Ursa added.

"Mom says that you, her, and Aunt Suki were on blimps taking out some soldiers," Lin exclaimed.

"Well, they're all liars. Do you wanna hear the story or what?" Sokka asked.

"Yes, please tell us!" Kya begged.

"Okay! So, it all started when I got to the Fire Nation royal palace on the night of Sozin's Comet!" Sokka began dramatically.

"My house?" Ursa asked.

"Yeah, your house, but this is when your house was bad," Sokka explained. "So, I was with Suki and Lin's mom, but I left them back at base because I couldn't risk the love of my life and my best friend's lives to take out the Fire Lord, it was a mission too dangerous to drag the people I love into, so I charged ahead, alone!"

"This isn't what happened…" Lin rolled her eyes and whispered into Kya's ear as Kya giggled.

"I know," She whispered back.

"What about Mom and Dad, what were they doing?" Tenzin asked his uncle.

"Erm…your father was…missing! Yes, that's it, _he was missing_!" Sokka said, thinking to himself that this wasn't a total lie Aang had been missing awhile.

"And Mom?" Bumi questioned.

"She was with Uncle Zuko," Again, the truth.

"They were fighting my aunt!" Ursa said, "An agni kai! And my dad saved your mom's life!"

"That's right, I knew that!" Bumi exclaimed, "But my mom saved your dad too!"

"I know, isn't it weird that if it weren't for each other we might not exist!" Ursa said.

"No, no, no!" Sokka interrupted, "You kids and your tall tales. What are Zuko and Katara telling you guys! Everyone knows _I_ was the one to save them both."

"_Really_?" Lin said with a giggle.

"As I was saying!" Sokka continued, "I busted open the Fire Lord's door and declared to him that his tyranny must come to an end-" Sokka emphatically went on with his tale.

"Uncle Sokka's story is full of bologna! He's not even watching us, let's go do something fun!" Lin whispered with a smirk.

"Like what?" Kya asked.

"We could reenact what really happened when our parents ended the war!" Lin suggested.

"Oh, that sounds like fun!" Bumi exclaimed, "But which battle?"

"All of them! We'll start with Uncle Zuko and Aunt Katara's agni kai against Princess Azula!" Lin said as Sokka rattled on, oblivious that the kids were scheming.

"Okay!" Tenzin agreed.

"Alright, so Kya, you have to be your mom," Lin said.

"Sounds like fun," Kya said.

"_Go to bed, young lady! Bumi stop torturing your brother!_ …How was that?" Kya said as she mimicked her mom.

"No, I mean your mom _when she was fourteen_, she _must've_ been cooler then," Lin explained.

"Oh, okay," Kya agreed.

"You be Uncle Zuko, Bumi," Lin said.

"Yes!" Bumi exclaimed, "Uncle Zuko is the man."

"Let's see, show me what you've got," Lin prompted.

"Hmmm…_Is Ursa okay? What's she doing? She better not get hurt! Careful, careful! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT, MAI-AANG…I BET IT WAS SOKKA! THE THINGS I HAVE TO DEAL WITH!_" Bumi said and Ursa started giggling.

"That sounds like Dad alright!" Ursa exclaimed.

"Good, you get the role," Lin said as she gave her friend a friendly punch on the arm. "And Ursa, you get to be your whacky aunt, okay?"

"What? Why?" Ursa moaned.

"Because you're the only one who can bend blue fire," Lin said.

"I'm the only one who can bend fire- period!" Ursa said.

"Well _someone _has to be Azula!" Lin argued, "And everyone says you look exactly like her!"

"Ugh, fine!" Ursa said reluctantly, "_I'll fry you all to pieces, Water Tribe peasant!_" Ursa said in a mocking tone.

"Excellent! Tenzin and I will be the directors! Right, Twinkletoes?" Lin said.

"Right, Lin…" Tenzin said with a sigh as they began to rearrange all of the furniture in the house to make room for their agni kai arena.

"I will be Fire Lord, brother!" Ursa shouted in an exaggerated cackle, standing on a table.

"Not on my watch, sister!" Bumi yelled.

"We will defeat you and Zuko will be Fire Lord!" Kya said.

"Oh yeah, well you'll have to fight me first mwahahaha!" Ursa screeched as she ran across the table, hopping from sofa to sofa as Kya and Bumi followed after. Ursa started shooting light doses of fire at them.

"You'll never get away with this, sister! Father will be defeated too!" Bumi shouted as he sliced open the couch cushions and pillows with his uncle's boomerang.

"Nonsense, Father will be the supreme Phoenix King!" Ursa yelled.

"Never, Princess Azula!" Kya yelled as she waterbent all of the water from the flower pots all over the rug.

"And Fire Lord Ozai fell and my dear friend Zuko took up the throne, as you all know!" Sokka finished his tale, "So, what did you think of that kids? …Kids?" Sokka said as he finally turned around to see the cataclysm they had created in his living room.

"I'll show you lightning, brother!" Ursa shouted with a cackle.

"Oh good grief!" Sokka exclaimed, "Cackling must run in the family…and Suki is going to cut me into bite-sized pieces!" Sokka said, freaking out.

"Lightning-choooo!" Ursa exclaimed as she pretended to aim for Kya, but Bumi jumped in blocking the attack.

"Nooooooooooo, not my friend!" Bumi yelled over dramatically in mock slow motion as Ursa lit his shirt on fire.

"Aw man!" Sokka shouted, "Guys!" He yelled, still being ignored, "…_Azula, Katara, and Zuko_!" Sokka shouted as a last resort and Kya looked up from pretending to chain Ursa down as Bumi's shirt still flamed up, as he lay fake wincing on the floor, which was also covered in flames.

"Oh, hey, Uncle Sokka!" Kya said, releasing Ursa with nervous laughter as Ursa wiped some blood off her forehead.

"_What_ is going on?" Sokka yelled, fighting back his laughter at the imitations of his old enemy, friend and sister. "Put the fire on Bumi out before he burns to death!" Sokka scolded as Kya obliged.

"And Ursa! Do you know what your father is going to do to me when he sees blood on you!" Sokka panicked, "What happened to you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Dad worries too much," Ursa said, waving it off.

"Ain't that the truth," Sokka said with a sigh. "And I can't believe you guys would reenact our battles!"

"Why not?" Lin mumbled, downtrodden.

"I meant-reenact our battles without me! I'm historic figure who was actually there! You can't do this thing without Uncle Sokka coaching you through!" Sokka said with a grin as the kids smiled back, "But!-No fire and no blood. Okay, clear? Commence scene!" Sokka declared as the kids started jumping around again imitating their parents and surrogate aunts and uncles. Sokka was standing on the table pretending to be a Fire Nation soldier who'd just been shot down by Tenzin who was pretending to be him.

"Aw, Water Tribe peasant, you got me!" Sokka cried as he fell to the floor.

"We're back Sokka, how did the kids-" Katara said as she opened the door, but stopped in her speech at the sight she just saw, cupping a hand to her mouth.

"What is it, sweetie?" Aang said as he walked up beside his wife. "…Sokka?"

"What's going on, how're the kids? Don't tell me Sokka screwed up again? He didn't let them get cactus juice did he? What'd he do-" Toph began but also ceased in her tracks at the sight.

"What are you guys going on about? Are the kids okay?" Zuko said worriedly as he saw what they were all gaping at, "What is going on? If he gave my little girl cactus juice again, I swear!"

"SOKKA!" Katara yelled and Sokka jolted his head up.

"Oh, hey, Katara…how was the meeting, sis?" Sokka said casually with a nervous giggle.

"Mom!" Kya exclaimed as she ran to embrace her mother.

"Why is half of your house a burnt, wet mess?" Toph snapped.

"Burnt?" Zuko said raising an eyebrow at his daughter.

"Hi, Daddy!" Ursa said, trying to act innocent as she kept her hand over the bloody scrape on her forehead.

"Why do you have your hand on your head, Ursa?" Zuko asked as he walked over to his daughter.

"Erm…Bumi and I are playing a game…first one to move their hand loses!" Ursa said with a chuckled, but Zuko moved her hand aside.

"Blood! What happened? Are you okay? Who did this? Sokka!" Zuko snapped angrily.

"Look, Zuko, I know it looks bad, but we've been through worse, right?" Sokka said.

"Just because this happened to me, doesn't mean I want my little girl's head covered in blood!" Zuko shouted, pointing at his scar.

"The kids were just playing!" Sokka said.

"Just playing? Sokka, Suki is going to kill you!" Aang stated.

"It's okay, Dad. Lin did it on accident, we were pretending to be you, Aunt Azula, and Aunt Katara when you stopped her!" Ursa explained.

"Lin! You _flung a rock_ at Ursa's head?" Toph scolded.

"After she locked her in the attic!" Tenzin ratted her out.

"Tenzin, you little snitch!" Lin yelled.

"What?" Zuko yelled.

"Sokka, do you watch these kids at all?" Aang yelled as he pulled his sons close.

"No, Dad, we had fun!" Bumi said, "Right guys?"

"Yeah! Uncle Sokka is the best! Plus, it was all our fault," Ursa stated.

"Yeah, can Uncle Sokka watch us next time too!" Kya exclaimed.

"I'd be good with that!" Lin added and Sokka's eyes widened.

"Look, I love you guys and all, but you're a bit of a hassle and me in control of you all is now emergencies only!" Sokka said as the entire gang couldn't help but look at the desperate gleam in his eyes, along with the bags underneath them, and the tattered-ness of his clothing and the frayed look of his hair. They all cracked a smile and shared a chuckle.

"Sokka, as angry as I am right now for my baby's head being a bloody mess, I'm glad she had fun," Zuko said, putting a hand on Ursa's shoulder.

"I suppose so…" Katara mumbled, "At least the kids bonded with you and each other and nobody's dead, so that's a plus."

"Sokka, what are we going to do with you," Aang said shaking his head.

Toph then added, "I'm just glad no one got a hold of the cactus juice this time."


	2. Katara

_Katara_

"We're going to be on our way now, sweetie," Aang said to his wife as he stood by his trusted, flying bison, Appa.

"Okay, Aang, I'm more than capable of handling myself," Katara replied to her husband.

"I know you are, but I just hope you'll be okay with all of these kids on your hands," Aang said with a frown.

"Please, Aang, I'm not Sokka," Katara said with a chuckle.

"Hey! I'm not that bad!" Sokka shouted down from Appa's saddle.

"Oh no, just you let them light the house on fire, flood it, and bleed," Katara said to her brother with a smirk.

"I said I was sorry…" Sokka grumbled.

"Don't worry, Sokka, you're always a last resort for everything," Toph commented as she gave him a punch on the arm.

"Gee, thanks, Toph," Sokka grumbled back.

"It's okay, Sokka, we know you tried your best," Suki said as she gave her husband a peck on the cheek.

"See, Suki appreciates me!" Sokka said as he put his arm around her.

"Well, I can be at a much better peace of mind knowing Katara is in charge as opposed to Sokka," Zuko said.

"Thanks, Zuko, you're a real pal boosting up my confidence," Sokka stated.

"Well, my daughter did have blood on her head, Sokka!" Zuko argued.

"Okay, okay, guys, that's enough. Honestly, I swear you all haven't aged a day in the last 30 years," Aang stated rolling her eyes.

"Oh yes, and you're just so mature, sweetie," Katara said with a grin, "You all better get going if you want to set up the thing that _isn't _my secret, surprise, anniversary present," Katara teased.

"We have meetings to tend to," Aang fibbed as he climbed up to Appa's reigns.

"Okay," Katara went along, rolling her eyes with a smile.

"Yip-yip!" Aang said as Appa ascended into the sky with the whole gang on board as they all waved goodbye.

"I'll see you guys later, not at my anniversary party!" Katara called out, waving with a knowing grin. "Now that they're out of the way, time to check up on the kids," Katara mused to herself as she walked back into the house, wiping her hands on her apron.

"Mom!" Kya exclaimed in surprise, as her eyes bugged wide open, ceasing dead in her tracks, and falling backwards off her feet.

"What is it, dear?" Katara asked.

"…Lin did it!" Kya shouted as she got up and ran away and Katara sighed then stormed to the garden where the kids had been playing around.

"Kids!" Katara snapped and they all froze and looked up to Katara.

"Aunt Katara! You look radiant today!" Lin said with a shaky giggle.

"That's nice, Lin, but it doesn't get you off the hook. Look at my flowers; they're ruined! I leave you all alone for all but five minutes and this is what you do!" Katara reprimanded. They all were holding their breath, they knew Katara was no softie like Aang, no push-over like Zuko, no all-fun-and-games like Sokka, and certainly no, let's-go-break-some-rules-and-have-fun like Toph. Katara was serious business, when Katara was in charge; you got in line and did what you were told with no sassing.

"Well why are you blaming me, Aunt Katara?" Lin said innocently.

"Mm-hm, I may not be able to detect lies like your mother, but I can tell when I'm blatantly being lied to. Lin, you're the only earthbender, no one else can manipulate rocks into that position," Katara explained and Lin just beamed a _guilty-as-charged_ smile.

"We were just trying to decorate them, honest, Mom!" Bumi yelled in defense.

"Oh, were you now?" Katara said, "Come on, in the house, all of you, no more outside!"

"But, Aunt Katara!" Ursa moaned.

"No buts! House! Now!" Katara ordered as they all slumped their shoulders and obediently marched inside.

"What do we do now?" Tenzin whined.

"Sit on the couch, think about what you've done and await further instruction," Katara replied strictly and they all sighed and complied as Katara went back to the kitchen.

"You're mom is such a bore, Kya," Lin said, as she put her elbow on the arm of the chair and used her hand as a headrest, pouting.

"It's not my fault…" Kya grumbled.

"At least you don't have to live with her rules! I'm afraid to breathe without permission!" Bumi exclaimed.

"You think this is bad! Have you guys met my father?" Ursa stated.

"At least your dad doesn't really punish you hardly," Bumi said, "He lets you get away with everything and your mom barely notices!"

"I don't know how you guys deal with this many rules all the time!" Lin groaned, "I'd go insane!"

"Your mom is a police officer and we're _still more_ restricted than you!" Kya said irritably and Lin beamed one of her signature smiles. Meanwhile, Katara was in the kitchen, contemplating to herself.

_"I wonder if I was a bit too hard on them…"_ Katara thought to herself as she then walked back into the living room where the kids were all sitting and complaining, even Tenzin.

"She's coming!" Ursa whispered to them all as they all sat up and silenced themselves. Katara laughed a little at their paranoia of her wrath.

"I was just wondering if you guys would like to help me cook up a little treat? We can even make some for your parents when they come back. How does that sound?" Katara suggested and they all eyed each other cautiously, looking to Lin, who was their subconsciously elected leader, for approval.

"Does this mean we're not in trouble anymore?" Lin asked.

"I think you've served your time," Katara said with a warm smile and the others smiled back at her.

"What kind of dessert would we be making?" Ursa asked excitedly.

"Hm, that depends, what do you guys want to make? We can make cookies, a cake, cupcakes, a pie, brownies, biscuits, whatever you like!" Katara replied.

"Cookies!" Bumi exclaimed.

"Chocolate chip!" Kya insisted.

"Chocolate chip cookies? How's that sound to everyone?" Katara verified and they all nodded along vehemently. "Perfect! Now, all need all of your help with this!" Katara said as she led them into the kitchen.

"My dad loves chocolate chip cookies. They're his favorite, he wouldn't tell anyone, but I see him eat ten whenever they're served at the palace," Ursa said and Katara couldn't help but laugh at the thought of Zuko stuffing his face with cookies while checking for anyone's watch.

"Good, then we'll make plenty for him," Katara replied, still finishing off her laughter.

"Can we make some special ones with sprinkles on them for Dad?" Tenzin asked.

"Sure we can, Tenzin. We'll put on your dad's favorite jimmies," Katara said.

"My mom loves raisins, can we put raisins in a few?" Lin asked.

"I know your mom loves raisins, Lin. We'll definitely put a few in for her," Katara agreed with a smile.

"Don't forget, Aunt Suki's forcing Uncle Sokka to be on a diet, so we have to use dark chocolate for him!" Kya reminded and Katara laughed.

"This is becoming the most intricate cookie making session ever, alright, I'll make some dark chocolate chipped ones for Uncle Sokka," Katara said. "So we've got, extra for Zuko, jimmies for Aang, raisins for Toph, and dark chocolate for Sokka?" Katara affirmed and the kids nodded excitedly. "Alright, so here's what I need you to do, Bumi, can you grab me some flour?"

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" Bumi said as he saluted his mother and staggered over with the heavy bag of flour, plopping it down on the counter.

"Thanks, honey," Katara said with a smile.

"Okay, now, Ursa, can you go get me some white sugar in the cupboard there?" Katara asked.

"Sure thing!" Ursa replied as she pulled a chair over to be able to reach the cupboard that dangled well over her reach. She stretched out and grabbed the little, container full of white sugar and placed it beside the flour on the counter.

"Thanks, sweetheart," Katara said with a smile of approval. "Now, Lin, can you fetch me the brown sugar in the same spot?"

"Aye-aye, captain!" Lin said with the same salute, but she flung out a cable like her mother's that went with her police uniform and threw the little bag of brown sugar on the counter alongside the other ingredients.

"Lin!" Katara exclaimed, "You could've ripped the bag! And worse yet, does your mom know you have that?" Katara asked, almost wincing at thr thought of the penalties for disobeying Toph.

"What she doesn't know won't kill her," Lin said, waving Katara off.

"But It might kill you," Katara thought to herself, "Okay, Tenzin, can you go get me four eggs, please?" Katara said as Tenzin went down to the basement where Katara froze her own ice to keep things like dairy products refrigerated. He came upstairs carefully handling the eggs in his hand.

"Thank you, dear," Katara said as she took the eggs and gently placed them down on a kitchen rag she'd spread out on the counter near the other materials.

"Now, Kya, I'm going to give you more than one job, think you can take on the challenge?" Katara asked.

"You bet I can!" Kya accepted.

"Okay, great, I need you to get a stick of butter, the shaker of salt, and some chocolate," Katara explained and Kya grinned and ran off to the cellar to acquire her list of ingredients. Katara then threw a bowl on the table and a pan on top of the stove. Kya then arrived back upstairs with the correct resources. "Thank you, Kya. Now, Ursa, can you heat up the oven, it'll go much faster if we can have you heat it up for us?"

"Sure!" Ursa agreed as she flung a flame into the oven's station and it began heating up.

"Thank you," Katara said with a smile as she ruffled her hair. Katara then went to pull the oven's lever to set the correct temperature, but found that the lever was jammed. She toyed with it for a minute before succumbing to it being stuck.

"Aunt Katara, I might be able to fix it," Lin suggested and Katara smiled, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

"That's right, I'd almost forgotten your mother showed you how to metalbend!" Katara exclaimed as Lin nudged everyone aside and bent the metal lever into the appropriate temperature set place. She then clapped her hands together in arrogant success.

"Piece of cake!" Lin said, placing her hands on her hips boastfully, "Or should I say, piece of cookie!"

"Thank you, Lin," Katara said as she ruffled at her hair next, to which Lin pouted. "Now, Kya, could you bend some water into this bowl, and control it to warm?"

"Of course I can, Mom!" Kya said as she drew some water from a nearby pond and carefully adjusted its temperature before sliding it slowly into the bowl that would be used to mix up their delectable cookie concoction.

"Good job, honey," Katara said, giving her daughter a squeeze. Then, with the help of the kids at her guidance, Katara threw together the ingredients and began to bake the cookies, with all of the special requests on different pans as not to be mixed. For the first time in their lives all the kids were friendlily sitting at the kitchen table, behaving, and all getting along. Even Lin and Tenzin. Katara couldn't help but smile at her success with keeping the children in line. Sokka would be jealous of her parenting skills, even if he wasn't a parent himself. They were all patiently awaiting their cookies, and talking. Suddenly, the oven made a ding sound and Katara put on her oven mitt and reached into the over to take them out.

"Aw, man! Now we have to wait for them to cool!" Bumi moaned.

"No, we don't," Tenzin said with a smile as he whipped up a tiny whirlwind and bent it towards the hot trays of cookies, cooling them all off instantly with his airbending. The kids' faces lit up at Tenzin's little feat.

"Wow, way to go, bro!" Bumi said.

"The less waiting for anything the better, especially cookies," Ursa added with a grin and nod towards Tenzin.

"I gotta hand it to you, Twinkletoes Junior, that was pretty impressive stuff," Lin confessed with her eyes closed and arms crossed. Tenzin smiled at the rare compliment that left Lin's lips.

"Well, tastes like you all did a fantastic job," Katara said as she snacked on one of the cookies. They all looked over to the tray wide eyed and Katara stifled a smile. "You'll get yours, don't worry," Katara said, "Do you want some milk with your cookies?"

"Yes please!" They all chanted as Katara quickly went to the basement and retrieved the jug of milk she'd purchased from the market in Republic City yesterday while shopping off their home on Air Temple Island. Katara then pulled five glasses, one for each of them and prepared a plate of two cookies per child.

"There you go, kids," Katara said as she served them all and they all returned her a thank you with the dish. Then as all of the kids were munching on their freshly baked snack, Appa's roar was heard as a landing outside. Katara smiled and peered out the window to confirm her suspicions. "I'll be right back, guys, I'm going to get your parents and bring them in for the surprise treat okay? I'll show them how a real surprise is done, since they couldn't pull off mine," Katara said as she stepped outdoors to greet her brother, husband, sister-in-law, and friends.

"Hey, Katara, how'd everything go?" Zuko said, a lot more calmly than he did asking Sokka, as he hopped off Appa's back.

"Oh you know, fine as usual," Katara replied and Zuko smiled.

"That's good, but I'm not surprised," Zuko replied, as he eyed Sokka.

"How many times do I have to apologize for lying to your daughter and letting her head bleed, Zuko? I am sorry, you know I love the kid like one of my own!" Sokka raved as he assisted Suki off Appa.

"Until Zuko's convinced," Suki said with a giggle to which Zuko pouted.

"If we made you apologize this many times for chasing us around the world, you'd be sick of the sound of your own voice, Sparky," Toph teased.

"Ha-ha, Toph," Zuko grumbled and they all shared a chuckle.

"You sure everything went okay, sweetie?" Aang said as he planted a kiss on Katara's cheek.

"As always. I'm not my brother, I know how to keep kids controlled _and_ behaved," Katara said.

"Hardy-har-har," Sokka mumbled.

"I'm glad," Aang said with a smile.

"Things went okay with not setting up my anniversary surprise I presume?" Katara said and Aang scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, perfect!" Aang laughed, "And, I told you-business!"

"Riight," Katara said rolling her eyes. "Well, here, why don't you all come inside," Katara said, inviting them in. "Volia, surprise!" Katara said as she shut her eyes, and extended her arms to what she thought would be a table of peaceful kids and trays full of delicious cookies waiting to be devoured.

"That is a surprise!" Toph exclaimed at the sense of the kids chucking cookies at one another and using the metal trays as shields.

"Controlled and behaved, huh?" Sokka said with a deadpanned expression.

"Take that, cookiebender!" Ursa shouted as she burnt a handful of cookies and chucked the burnt rock of them across the room.

"Ursa!" Zuko scolded, but he was ignored.

"But! Just a minute ago- I swear they were all talking and we baked cookies to surprise you all and-!" Katara began babbling out excuses.

"Wow, Sugar Queen couldn't even handle some cookies," Toph joked as she picked one up off the floor and took a bite, "Raisin, my favorite."

"Katara, this house will take days to clean!" Aang said with a repress of a sob in his voice.

"At least she isn't bleeding," Zuko said with a sigh as a cookie pegged his daughter in the eye, which would surely leave a black-and-blue bruise.

"Ouch!" Ursa exclaimed.

"Now she really looks just like you, eh, Zuko?" Sokka said with a grin, elbowing him, but Zuko just glared at him. "Well, I think we've all learned a valuable lesson here," Sokka said, putting an arm around his sister as Katara still grimaced at her failure, "Katara is just as bad at surprises as we are and keeping _these guys_ under control."


	3. Aang

_Aang_

"Okay sweetie, I am so, so sorry!" Katara spat out to her husband in distress as he returned a quizzical look.

"Sorry? Why?" Aang asked, putting a hand on his wife's shoulder in concern.

"Well…you know how I was going to go grocery shopping and stuff today and since you're off you were going to watch the kids…" Katara began.

"Yeah, it's no problem, Katara. I am their _father_," Aang said teasingly, still confused by Katara's apology.

"No, it's not about _our _kids…" Katara mumbled.

"Then whose kids is it about? Zuko's?" Aang said sarcastically as Katara flashed a toothy grin.

"A..heh..heh…well…she's one of them…" Katara admitted, twiddling her thumbs.

"What?" Aang said, "What's Ursa got to do with anything?" Aang stated.

"Um, I kind of promised the kids a playdate today and forgot it was today and it's sort of, kind of, my only day to go shopping…" Katara confessed.

"Katara!" Aang exclaimed, massaging his temples, "Don't get me wrong, Ursa's a sweet, little girl, but you know how hectic our kids get with their friends."

"Lin's a sweet, little girl too…right?" Katara stated.

"Yes, Lin is also a very nice girl, Katara, you know that- oh no…" Aang muttered and Katara just smiled apologetically, "Katara!"

"Well, it wouldn't be fair to invite Ursa and not Lin!" Katara stated, "How would you feel if we were all having a get together back in the day and I invited Zuko, Toph, Suki, and Sokka, but not you!" Katara snapped back.

"Ugh, but Katara…" Aang mumbled, "Whenever those guys get together…the _kitchen_ two months ago? And that was when _you_ were babysitting! Don't even get me started on _Sokka's_ watch time!"

"Oh, Aang, you should just be happy that our children have such nice friends," Katara said, "And I couldn't cancel, they'd all be devastated!"

"I know, I know. When are Toph and Zuko coming?" Aang asked.

"Any minute now," Katara said with a grin, "They should be pulling up on the ferry shortly. Well, good luck, sweetie! I'll see you later!" Katara said as she gave Aang a kiss on the cheek and went to the dock to wait for the next boat from Air Temple Island to Republic City. Aang watched his wife run off with a suppressed sigh.

"Dad, Dad, are Lin and Ursa here yet?" Bumi said anxiously as he pulled at his father's robes.

"No, Bumi, not yet," Aang said.

"Dad, are you gonna help us bake cookies?" Kya asked.

"NO!" Aang blurted out, "I mean…not today."

"Aw, but why?" Tenzin pouted.

"Ask our month of kitchen renovation what…" Aang grumbled beneath his breath, "You guys messed it up quite a bit, last time. Plus, I'm not the baker your mother is."

"But…you are going to do something fun…right, Dad?" Kya said.

"Sure, like what? I don't know why'd you'd want an old man ruining your fun though," Aang said with a grin, secretly hoping he'd be invited to join in.

"Dad, _you're the avatar_, it doesn't get much more fun than that!" Tenzin insisted.

"Okay, I'll play with you guys," Aang said in a fake reluctance as a ferry could be seen approaching the dock from the damp, misty, waters in the distance.

"This one's gotta be them!" Kya exclaimed as she raced over to edge of the dock.

"Be careful, Kya!" Aang warned as he followed suit. The ship finally docked in the harbor the laughter of two giggling little girls could be heard as the shadowy figure of a short-haired girl gave a shove to the long-haired girl, urging her off the boat.

"Lin!" Ursa shouted in annoyance as she stomped her foot down.

"You were being a slowpoke, what can I say," Lin stated and Ursa grimaced, biting her tongue.

"Hello, Lin, Ursa," Aang said to his friends' daughters. Ursa bowed respectfully and Lin glanced over to Ursa and quickly did the same, but Aang just chuckled, "There's no need for that," Aang stated as he pulled the girls into a hug, putting a fatherly arm around both of their shoulders and guiding them towards the house.

"Hi, Uncle Aang! Where's Aunt Katara?" Ursa asked.

"She went to grocery shopping, it's just me today," Aang explained as Lin grew a wide grin at all the newfound fun she could get away with.

"So I guess that means no cookie baking this time," Lin said with a sarcastic smirk. She was her mother's daughter all right.

"I'm afraid not, Lin," Aang said with a growing scowl at the messy memory. "So, did your parents just drop you off at the dock?"

"Yeah, but it took Dad an hour of convincing," Ursa said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, my mom had to talk Uncle Zuko into it, he was practically in a fit of tears as the boat sailed away," Lin grumbled.

"That isn't so surprising," Aang said with a chuckle to himself. It was hard to believe for a man who was on his own for so long at such an early age that he was so protective of his daughter doing anything alone, and in general. It was funny, but when Aang put himself in Zuko's shoes, it made sense, he's afraid of having her go through the pain he'd gone through and it seemed less funny to him that way when looking at the reasons.

"My dad says he's going to do something fun with us, since he's the avatar, right Dad?" Kya said with a bragging edge to the tone of her voice.

"Sure, want to see something really cool?" Aang said in excitement as he pulled out a few marbles from his pocket and spin them using airbending in his hands. The kids all looked thoroughly unimpressed.

"Dad…please…not the marble trick, not again," Kya groaned.

"What?" Aang said obliviously, "Everyone loves the marble trick, why it's even how-"

"Why it's even how you got our mother to marry you, we know, Dad," Bumi interrupted, finishing his father's sentence that was reiterated to him to death.

"Well, maybe you're friends would like to see the marble trick, just because you don't, son," Aang answered.

"Guys, tell my dad you don't want to see the marble trick again," Bumi groaned.

"Well, I have seen it quite a few times, Uncle Aang…" Ursa mumbled.

"I don't want to see it again," Lin said bluntly and Aang pouted.

"Well, maybe you kids ought to just play by yourselves, I really can't think of anything for you to do," Aang said with a sigh.

"Wait! Dad!" Kya exclaimed as he jumped up in his face.

"What is it, honey?" Aang asked.

"I know something that we can do…" Kya began, "We can go penguin sledding!"

"Yeah! Have you guys ever gone penguin sledding before?" Bumi said in excitement to Lin and Ursa.

"Nope, I haven't ever been anywhere cold enough to," Ursa replied with a shrug.

"Me neither, I've never been to the Southern or Northern Water Tribes before. I've been to the Fire Nation plenty of times visiting Uncle Zuko, and the Earth Kingdom once or twice seeing my grandparents, but that's it. Otherwise I'm glued to Republic City," Lin responded.

"Then you're in for a treat! Please, Dad, please!" Kya begged.

"I don't know, Kya, I think the Water Tribe is too far away," Aang replied glumly, sad to disappoint his children.

"We don't need to go to the Water Tribe!" Bumi exclaimed.

"Oh really? So do you suppose we just go find some penguins and snow in the Fire Nation then?" Lin rebutted sardonically.

"No, no, no! We're going to make a penguin sledding place ourselves!" Bumi announced.

"Bumi, I'm not sure if this is such a great idea," Aang said to his son, he saw so much of Sokka in the boy it was ridiculous.

"Dad, please, you have to trust me!" Bumi begged, "We can have Lin make a landslide and Kya can freeze water over it and then we can have Tenzin stabilize the temperature and when we're done, Ursa will melt it away and Lin will put it back, it's perfect!"

"Bumi…I'm not sure, I'm sorry, son," Aang said, putting a hand on Bumi's shoulder.

"Please, Uncle Aang!" Lin pestered.

"I could do it, Dad," Kya cajoled.

"I'll do it, but I'm not penguin sledding, never again!" Tenzin said adamantly.

"Uncle Aang, please, I really do wanna try!" Ursa pleaded.

"I'm sorry, kids, my instincts are telling me this isn't a good idea and if there's anything your Uncle Sokka taught me it was to trust your instincts," Aang replied with a downtrodden sigh. Bumi's face grew into a tight, distraught glower.

"You don't think I can do anything! None of you think I can do anything! Just because I don't have awesome powers like the rest of you!" Bumi said, clearly feeling insecure and upset as he kicked the gravel and stormed away.

"Bumi, Bumi! That isn't true and you know it…Bumi!" Aang called after his son with a sigh.

"Bumi!" Ursa called as she went chasing after him.

"Oh great…" Aang said as he squeezed his fingers to the bridge of his nose. "I need to go get them, Kya…please, do not get into any trouble okay?"

"Okay, Dad, I promise," Kya agreed, actually planning to stand by her word for once due to the circumstances.

"So, are we going to build that penguin sledding thing or what?" Lin said as soon as Aang was out of earshot.

"Lin…" Kya just said with a heavy sigh as she shook her head. Meanwhile, Ursa had just caught up with Bumi who was sitting by a big lake. She went over beside him, and took a seat, kicking the brim of the water with her black, Fire Nation, boot with the yellow stripe up the middle.

"Bumi, no one thinks you can't do anything, you know," Ursa said seriously.

"Easy for you to say_, Princess_, you're a prodigal fire bender who bends blue fire and is daughter of the legendary Fire Lord Zuko," Bumi grumbled, scrunching his knees up to his chest to bury his face in.

"Well, you're the son of the avatar and the world renowned waterbender, Katara," Ursa responded, "Plus, my mom isn't a bender."

"Yeah, but you are," Bumi stated.

"So, my mom could probably kick my dad and your dad's butt," Ursa said, half-joking, "Have you _seen_ her throwing knives?"

"That sounds kind of horrifying," Bumi said with a laugh.

"Sometimes," Ursa agreed, sharing the chuckle, "And Uncle Sokka and Suki, they aren't benders, and they're amazing!"

"They are pretty awesome, aren't they," Bumi agreed.

"Uncle Sokka named Republic City, and he and Aunt Suki held off entire divisions of fleets of Fire Nation soldiers all by themselves! If it weren't for Aunt Suki, Aunt Toph and Uncle Sokka would've been dead!" Ursa said emphatically. As just then, Aang crept up behind them.

"Ursa is right, Bumi. You don't have to be a bender to be great, I've known plenty of people in my years who were amazing with and without bending abilities," Aang said, putting a hand on his son's shoulder then relinquishing a sigh, "Bumi, I don't doubt you at all, and I don't think your brother, sister, or friends so either. And I hope you know that your mother and I are very, very proud of you, you're an excellent swordsman and you're very clever, just like your uncle."

"Really?" Bumi said, looking up to his father.

"Of course," Aang said with a smile, "We love you, Bumi," Aang said as he pulled his son into a warm embrace.

"I love you too, Dad," Bumi said as he returned the hug, Ursa smiling as she looked on, "Thanks, Ursa," Bumi said as he wiped away a stray tear and pulled his best friend into a hug. Aang smiled at his son's friendship, he had good friends, just like he had himself.

"Now, you two, why don't we go back and check on Kya, Tenzin, and Lin, to see what monstrosity Lin pulled out of her sleeve this time," Aang said teasingly as he walked the kids back towards his home. Much to Aang's dismay, but he couldn't say surprise; there was a huge formation of an icy hill going from the roof of his home, down to a nearby pond for landing. Tenzin was there taking turns ascending Kya and Lin to the roof to get up and then drying them off when they hit the water.

"My turn!" Bumi said in excitement as he darted towards his invention.

"I wanna try!" Ursa called as she chased after.

"Oh no, it's Uncle Aang!" Lin exclaimed as she plopped into the pond, "Uncle Aang, I can explain!" Lin shouted.

"Oh you need to right now, young lady," Aang said in a serious demeanor.

"I-I-" Lin began to stumble on her words, calculating an excuse; she's was good, but no Azula.

"You need to explain to me how you're penguin sledding, without any penguins?" Aang demanded, showing a sly grin. "Plus, you never invited me to have a turn, that's not fair."

"Okay, Uncle Aang, sorry we don't have any penguins, but would you like to play?" Lin asked.

"I'd be glad to," Aang said, bowing respectfully as he flew himself up to the roof and slid down the icy landslide, falling into the pond, as the kids and he laughed until their sides hurt.

"Aang, they didn't have any more rye bread so I just went with wheat instead, I hope that-s-" Katara began, but stopped in the middle of her tracks, dropping her bag of groceries at the sight of her 40-year-old husband, her kids, and friends' kids splashing around in a muddy pond with a giant icy landslide coming off of her roof. "AANG! You're no better than Sokka!"

"Katara!" Aang exclaimed, blushing profusely as he stood up , wiping the mud away, "Well, the…um…Lin and Ursa had never been penguin sledding so…"

"Honestly Aang! You and Sokka have more in common than you admit! I leave either of you with the kids and I return to a huge mess with a house renovation! Well, at least no one's bleeding!" Katara yelled.

"Well…" Tenzin said with a giggle as he covered his bleeding knee with his hand and Katara rolled her eyes.

"I'll heal it later," Katara grumbled as Aang got up out of the pond, and snaked his hand around Katara's waist. "Aang! I'm mad at you get off, and you're all muddy!" Katara grumbled.

"But Katara…" Aang said, "Do you want to go penguin sledding with me?" Aang whispered in her ear, and Katara couldn't help but crack her serious demeanor at the nostalgic sound of the first words Aang had ever spoken to her.

"Do I ever," Katara whispered back as Aang pulled her into a kiss.

"Ewww!" Lin exclaimed.

"Ugh, oogies with a capital 'O'!" Bumi exclaimed as he covered Ursa's eyes and shut his own. Aang and Katara just snickered at the children's comments.

"So, are you guys going to come penguin sledding or what?" Katara asked with a smile as the kids stared on shocked and baffled for a second, but then grew wide grins.

"You bet!" Lin exclaimed, "Come on, Twinkletoes Junior, if your mom can do it, so can you!" Lin ordered, grabbing Tenzin by the hand and dragging him over to the slope. They all took turns continually, one-by-one on the penguin sledding slide. As Aang and Katara on Aang's lap prepared to go down the slide once more, two familiar faces approached the scene.

"Honestly, Twinkletoes, and you call us immature?" Toph said with a laugh, as Aang and Katara froze, blushing.

"You've got quite the contraption there, Aang, Katara," Zuko said with a half-grin.

"Zuko!" Katara exclaimed as she hopped off the slide.

"Toph!" Aang exclaimed, following his wife's actions.

"What-what're you two doing here…?" Katara mumbled, playing with hair in humiliation from the previous little activity.

"Picking up our daughters," Toph replied sarcastically and Katara laughed nervously.

"Ah, well…I think they had a good time," Aang replied. Zuko then smirked, "Doesn't look like they were the only ones."


	4. Toph

_Toph_

She didn't see why _she_ had to be the one stuck with Fire Lord Sparky's kid and Sugar Queen and Twinkletoes' three musketeers. Her husband was out, covering police work, _as usual_, so she was stuck with the little lily-livers along with her own. _Conveniently_, Zuko, Katara, Aang, and Suki had to all be busy today and Katara didn't want to leave her kids with Sokka again after the last incident, which she really didn't see that much of an issue with, Sokka was just having fun, and at least he didn't let them chuck pastries at each other. What was she to do with the little munchkins all day long? For now they were sitting on her living room rug creating a collaboration painting together peacefully, but she knew all too well that that wouldn't last long.

"Uncle Sokka would've painted them better than that," Lin grumbled to Bumi as he continued to work on his portrait.

"No way! This is awesome!" Bumi snapped to Lin in defense, "Isn't it, Ursa?"

"…Erm…you tried?" Ursa said with a grin and a shrug as she looked on at the sad attempt at her topknot on the painting.

"Bumi, nice imitation of Uncle Sokka's style of painting from the end of The-Hundred-Year-War!" Tenzin commented as he returned from the bathroom.

"That isn't funny, Tenzin!" Bumi rebutted.

"I wasn't trying to be!" Tenzin shouted defensively.

"He thinks it's good, all on its own," Lin whispered with a snicker.

"It is good! I am a great artist!" Bumi declared boastfully.

"Oh yeah, and Ursa is a great singer," Lin replied with a sarcastic, smug look on her face.

"Hey! Grandpa is teaching me pretty well," Ursa huffed, crossing her arms.

"_Fire Lord Ozai_?" Lin answered with a cocky smirk of contentness.

"No." Ursa said bluntly, growing a scowl.

"Well, _he is_ _your grandfather_," Lin stated and Ursa inhaled a deep breath.

"I know that," Ursa gritted through her teeth, "But I call my _great-uncle_ 'grandpa' because that monster hasn't been anything _close_ to one to me!"

"I bet you've never even met 'em," Lin said, inspecting her nails arrogantly as Ursa's patience was withering.

"I have!" Ursa snapped, "You wouldn't last a _second_ in that dingy, prison looking into his cell! You'd run out crying before you could even count to three-_if_ you could count that high!"

"Don't challenge me, Ursa, you should know better than that by now," Lin said haughtily.

"_Try_-me," Ursa spat back. Lin gave her a competitive glare as she shot a glance to her mother, then grew a wide grin.

"Hey, Mom?" Lin called to her mother as Toph exhaled a deep breath and began to walk over to the kids. She knew the peace could never last.

"Yes, Lin," Toph groaned.

"Can you take us to a Fire Nation prison?" Lin asked and the others just face-palmed.

"…No," Toph mumbled.

"Why?" Lin begged.

"I'm not dragging five kids to a high security prison full of the world's worst criminals," Toph stated bluntly.

"Ursa says I couldn't be near Fire Lord Ozai for three seconds!" Lin said.

"You probably couldn't, Loser Lord is pretty creepy and messed up," Toph replied and Lin's grimace grew fiercer at her mother's lack of encouragement as well.

"Well, if Ursa could, then I could!" Lin protested.

"Please, Lin, Ursa had to, it's her grandfather, she had to face the freak someday. Plus, Zuko told me she was clutching onto his clothes for dear life and whimpering the whole time," Toph explained and Ursa beamed a smile.

"Still did it," Ursa replied matter-of-factly.

"Ursa, would you tell Lin that the washed out Loser Lord isn't that much of a sight anyways? He's a beat up, evil, old man with nothing to live for. He was a demented tyrant, convinced to kill the whole city of Ba Sing Se, worst father I've ever heard of, he was a terrible husband, and I'd be willing to place my bets that he's not so great a grandfather either," Toph said with a sigh.

"Well, yeah…but he was still creepy…I was scared around him, I admit! But you'd be too!" Ursa stated and Lin laughed.

"You were a 'fraidy-cat too!" Lin said and Ursa just clenched her fists, not understanding a bit the severity of that situation for her.

"Oh come on, Lin! You'd be terrified!" Kya insisted, "Fire Lord Ozai is the most evil man who ever walked the planet!"

"Yeah, you'd be more scared than Ursa, I'll bet," Bumi backed them up as Tenzin just silently uninvolved himself from the debate. Toph just massaged her temples at the continued bickering about Fire Lord Ozai and who was afraid of him. In all honesty, there wasn't much to be afraid of; he was an old guy, behind bars, with no means of hurting anyone. But she did admit, being in his presence was extremely unnerving, even to her. Zuko did tell her about his father's secret threats to have his daughter killed, claiming that "Zuko had taken away his happiness, so he'd take away Zuko's" and how it terrified him.

"Alright!" Toph yelled, blowing a whistle with her fingers as the kids immediately silenced themselves. "You all keep arguing about Ozai, but don't you want to do something really daring?"

"Yes!" Lin exclaimed excitedly in response to her mother's suggestion.

"Good, then all of you, suit up, we're going somewhere fun, not a word of this to your parents," Toph warned, growing a mischievous smile. "Tenzin, that goes especially for you, kiddo."

"Okay, Aunt Toph," Tenzin agreed reluctantly, saluting her. Lin then buckled her shoes and raced up beside Ursa and Kya, throwing an arm around both of them.

"This is going to be fun, I can tell!" Lin exclaimed as Kya grinned along, but Ursa stuck her nose to Lin, still angry about their previous squabble.

"Look, Ursa, I'm sorry I mocked you and stuff about your grandfather…I know it's kind of a sore spot and I'm only teasing, really. I know you and your dad are nothing like those crazy jerks in your family," Lin said, biting the bullet and putting forward her apology for the stake of her friendship. Ursa sighed and shifted a dorky, half-smile to Lin that was nearly identical to her father's.

"Okay…I forgive you," Ursa mumbled as Lin smiled and gave her an affectionate punch on the side of her arm.

"Alright, now that we're done making amends, who's ready to go on a fieldtrip with Aunt Toph?" Toph announced as the kids grew excited. "Okay, stick close to me, okay? I don't need any of you getting lost, Republic City's a big place."

"Aye-aye!" Bumi said as they began following Toph's lead as she left her house, locking the door and leading them through the bustling streets of the always-busy metropolis that she patrolled.

"Where're we going, Aunt Toph?" Kya asked curiously.

"You'll see…" Toph replied ambiguously as they continued trekking on for a couple more blocks. Finally, they arrived in front of a huge arena with glistening lights that reflected on the sparkling, surrounding water that circled the arena like a mote.

"A pro-bending arena!" Tenzin exclaimed, pulling at his hair. "My Mom and Dad are going to kill me, Aunt Toph!"

"No, they're not, Tenzin, because we're not telling Mom and Dad, right?" Toph reassured; Tenzin nodded slowly, so did Kya and Bumi. "And Ursa, we won't be telling Daddy about this, will we?"

"Nope!" Ursa said.

"Good, then off we go!" Toph said as she barged through the congested crowd, holding a badge out, until she reached the inside lobby of the arena. She walked up to the receptionist desk, bringing Lin straight up to the desk with her. "I'd like one adult and five kids' tickets for the next pro-bending match, please," Toph told the teller at the desk as she handed her the six slips of paper, "Lin, check them please," Toph said, handing her daughter the tickets to be verified.

"They look legit, Mom," Lin confirmed.

"Thank you very much," Toph then told the teller as she took the tickets back from Lin and handed the teller the appropriate amount of yuans. Then, Toph overheard a commercialist man speaking to a group of people.

"Sign 'em up here! Right here!" The man spoke, "Any age, any size, any gender, don't matter! They'll be selected based on name originality and other traits of interest! Sign your team or your youngin's team up here!" The man elaborated as Toph grew a scheming smile.

"Lin, go sit by that fountain with the others, I'll be right back. Do not go anywhere," Toph ordered sternly as she went over to the advertising man.

"Hello! Why if it isn't Chief Toph Beifong!" The man exclaimed.

"Yeah, hi," Toph said, "In case you didn't know, I'm blind."

"Oh…well…I was aware, but I'm not sure why-" The man began rattling.

"No, I want to sign up for your contest, but I can't write," Toph interrupted, giving her explanation as the man sighed in relief.

"Ah, okay, no problem, Mrs. Chief Beifong!" The man said, "Just tell me your entry and I'll sign 'er up for ya!"

"Okay, thanks. I want to enter Lin Beifong, Princess Ursa, and Kya, daughter of Avatar Aang, into the competion under the team name of…." Toph said, pondering a creative nickname for their team, "Under the team name The Munchkin Musketeers!" Toph exclaimed.

"You want to enter your daughter, the Avatar's daughter, and the princess of the Fire Nation in the tournament competition to attempt to get them to participate?" The man said in awe and surprise, "Well…how old are they?"

"Attempt isn't likely and Lin is ten, Kya is twelve or something, and I'm pretty sure Ursa is eleven," Toph replied and the man chuckled at their young ages.

"Okay, well how about bending for each of them?" The man asked.

"Well, this should be a no-brainer, Lin is an earthbender, Ursa is a firbender, and Kya is a waterbender. They're the perfect blend- them Munchkin Musketeers!" Toph exclaimed, still proud of her clever name, thinking to herself that even Sokka couldn't have thought of something better.

"Okay, thank you very much, Chief! You're all entered!" The man said.

"Thanks a bunch!" Toph answered as she went back to see the kids. "Okay-dokey, kids! We're gonna go sit down in our seats now!"

"This is so exciting! I always wanted to see a pro-bending game, but Dad said it was a mockery to the traditional ways of bending!" Kya exclaimed.

"My dad thinks _it'll get ideas in my head_ that're _too dangerous_ for _his little girl_," Ursa said, mimicking her father and mocking his overprotective tendencies. "Though, I must say, competing in one of these things would be the best…ever!"

"Wouldn't it? We'd so kick butt, even now," Lin stated.

"Lucky you guys, at least you could someday…" Bumi grumbled.

"Bumi, we'd want you at every game," Ursa said in a comforting tone and Bumi's expression softened.

"I wouldn't dare be in one! Mom and Dad would have a cow!" Tenzin exclaimed as the others rolled their eyes, continuing to follow Toph into the stadium.

"Lin, take the tickets, find the row for me, okay hun?" Toph said, giving her daughter the tickets to scour out and locate their designated row of seating. Lin then tracked down the number's coordinates and they all took their seat in the row. After a few minutes of idle chitchat, the lights dimmed and a few lights trickled on to illuminate the center of the field. The announcer for the games then ascended to the center and pulled out a microphone.

"Are you guys ready for some pro-bending?" The announcer called emphatically as the crowd started cheering wildly; the kids grinning up to their ears in anticipation. "As you all know, this is a special version of our regular pro-bending games! We held a little contest in the lobby to see how our lucky players against the Sky Bison Flyers would be! After careful consideration we had to come to the decision to pick The Munchkin Musketeers!" The announcer called as his voice echoed through the microphone and out the speakers to the whole coliseum.

"YES!" Toph exclaimed, jumping up in her seat in excitement as the kids eyed her oddly.

"The members of The Munhkin Musketeers are three, very special, little girls! The avatar and the legendary waterbender Katara's daughter, Kya, Chief Toph Beifong's daughter, Lin, and Fire Lord Zuko's girl, the princess of the Fire Nation, Ursa!" The announcer said as the girls' eyes bolted wide open and they turned to Toph, begging for help, not that she could see them, but she just was laughing hysterically.

"You heard the man, Munchkin Musketeers, get your little tucuses down there and play some pro-bending!" Toph said as she gave them a shove forward. They all cautiously and hesitantly got up and slowly crept down the stadium stairs toward the center of the arena.

Meanwhile, Katara, Aang and Zuko, while at a foreign affairs meeting in the meeting room of the town hall, decided to flip through the radio stations to try to find a radio show stating that the citizens of Republic City were perfectly content. The other councilman flipped through the station, but Katara caught the end jist of the pro-bending station, announcing its contestants.

"Wait-go back!" Katara exclaimed.

"To the pro-bending channel?" Zuko said, puzzled.

"No, listen, Zuko!" Katara snapped.

"Sweetie, I think Zuko might be right, we're at an official meeting and I don't even like those games-" Aang began.

"Shhh-!" Katara hushed as they heard the sound of their daughters' voices.

"So, what made you sign up, Princess?" The announcer asked Ursa over the radio.

"Um, I didn't…" Ursa grumbled.

"Princess…?" Zuko said, then he heard the voice, "Ursa! What is she doing there? She's _in the match_?" Zuko cried.

"Um…I didn't really…volunteer for this either," Kya answered.

"Is that Kya?" Aang exclaimed.

"Mom…" Lin grumbled.

"Toph!" Katara exclaimed. "Liku, we're going to have to postponed the meeting temporarily, our kids may be in trouble."

"Truly sorry!" Aang said as he picked up he and his wife's bags, heading to the door.

"Sorry, sir, family first!" Zuko called as he followed his friends out the door to chase down to the pro-bending arena.

Back at the arena, The Sky Bison Flyers were just being sent out into the tournament, the girls hearts were pounding in their chest in fear as the much-larger teenagers came towards them, laughing at the _challenge_. The bells chimed and the first shot was shot by the boy in the center, he was an earthbender. Lin took his plate of earth and rebounded it right in his gut.

"Nice shot, Lin!" Kya complimented, the boy holding his stomach, pouting in being nearly defeated in one shot by a mere, little girl.

"Not on my watch, little girl!" The boy called out, sending another plate of earth towards Lin. Lin easily countered it back at him, sending him flying off of the arena and splashing into the water.

"I'm no ordinary little girl, I'm a Beifoing!" Lin cried out in victory, but it was short lived as a splash of water from the other teammate hit the back of her head. As the girls continued to fight off their opponent, Katara, Aang, and Zuko had spotted out Toph in the stadium audience with her feet kicked up on, leaning on the vacant seats in front.

"Toph!" Zuko snapped, clearly furious.

"Oh calm down, hothead," Toph waved him off.

"You send my eleven-year-old, little girl out in a fight! Are you mad?" Zuko shouted.

"Yeah, and she's totally kicking butt, lock at her go!" Toph exclaimed as she motioned towards Ursa who was winning against a girl twice her age. Zuko quickly grinned at his daughter's success, but quickly snapped back into his anger.

"I'm with Zuko on this one, Toph! I don't even want my kids here, let alone partaking!" Katara yelled.

"But mom!" Bumi whined.

"I tried to tell them!" Tenzin cried.

"Toph, I cannot believe you did this! I should've left them with Sokka!" Aang cried.

"I'm getting Ursa out of there, now," Zuko huffed.

"Have a cup of tea and clam down, Sparky. If you do that, you do realize she'll be permanently humiliated. Do you really want to publically humiliate your daughter, scarring her for life, in an arena?" Toph said to her friend, quickly biting her lip, and praying to be able to rephrase what she just said as Zuko's eyes widened and Aang and Katara shot her a death glare.

"No." Zuko said bitterly as he sat down sternly in the chair. "Never."

"Z-Zuko I didn't mean it like that, it came out wrong," Toph said, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"It doesn't matter," Zuko muttered.

"I'm sorry," Toph apologized and Zuko sighed.

"Like I said, it doesn't matter," Zuko reiterated himself, glancing away dourly.

"Zuko…" Katara muttered, scowling once more at Toph, "I'll let her finish this match, but never again!" Katara yelled. Ursa, Lin, and Kya were down to just one more foe, and none of them had been knocked out yet. They all combined their bending and sent one super attack hurtling at the waterbending boy as he finally went plummeting off the stadium.

"Yeah, that's my girl!" Zuko exclaimed, jumping out of his seat to give a round of applause.

"Way to go, Kya!" Aang said, simultaneously applauding with Zuko. Toph then coughed to get their attention, looking all-too-pleased with herself. Zuko and Aang shot each other a glance and quietly sat back down. Katara still unamused.

"Well, looks like we've got ourselves new champions! I've never been more impressed in my life, girls!" The announcer said as he prepared to give them medals, "But, since you aren't official, registered pro-benders I'm afraid you can't have the honorary title, my apologies."

"What? What is this nonsense? They won fair and square!" Katara exclaimed, standing up in protest, as she threw her frustration forward, Toph, Zuko, Aang, and her sons just gave her a knowing smirk.

Toph then smirked, and said to her old friend, "You like pro-bending…don't you, Katara?"


	5. Suki

_Suki_

"I'm not fun they said, hmph, I'll show them!" Suki mused to herself as she was picking up Sokka's dirty socks, which were scattered throughout the house, and put them in the laundry basket she was carrying. "I am plenty of fun! I bet the kids like it best when I babysit!" Suki grumbled to herself, "I mean, I may not be as fun as Toph, but at least I don't scare the living daylights out of them like she does, and I'm way more fun than Katara!"

"Who you talking to, Suki?" Sokka said as he stood by the doorway, still in his pajamas, rubbing the sand out of his heavy eyes.

"Avatar Kyoshi," Suki mumbled back sarcastically.

"Ah, well then I'm sure she wouldn't mind doing the laundry you got there, considering how big her feet are she must do way more with her socks in one day," Sokka replied, laughing at his own joke.

"I don't think so," Suki retorted and Sokka pouted.

"No, but really, what were you grumbling about?" Sokka asked again as he walked over to the stove and took out a frying pan from the cabinet.

"Nothing important, just at dinner last night after the council meeting…" Suki groaned.

"Yeah, I wasn't feeling that pulled pork either, I was more in the mood for some steak," Sokka said ponderously.

"Sokka! That's not what I meant, at all!" Suki snapped at her husband, looking somewhat distraught.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I'm serious now. What's up?" Sokka said, turning the stove switch onto hot and putting the frying pan on one burner and the kettle on another eye.

"Well, everyone kept saying that I was no fun and that the kids would rather anyone else babysit but me," Suki said with a browbeaten sigh.

"That's ridiculous, I mean, you're more fun than Katara, she's a total party-pooping grouch!" Sokka said, cracking two eggs and spilling their yolks into the sizzling pan.

"But even you were saying I was dry toast as a babysitter," Suki complained.

"Oh you want toast? I think we're out of bread…" Sokka said as he opened several cabinets in search of their loaf of bread.

"Sokka!" Suki scolded. "Please!"

"Alright, I had four glasses of cactus juice from the bar last night, you can't take what I said seriously," Sokka explained as he attempted at flipping the egg in the pan to make an omelette, but it spilled over and landed on the floor. Suki just looked at the wasted eggs on the ground with a glower at her husband's typical clumsiness.

"But even Zuko agreed, and he's usually nice about this kind of thing!" Suki cried.

"Well, then I guess you could really say that we're _out of the frying pan and into the fire_!" Sokka laughed loudly as he scooped up the soiled scrambled eggs off the ground.

"Oh, you're so funny," Suki mumbled.

"No, but see, I dropped the eggs out of the frying pan and Zuko's a firebender and the expression about-" Sokka began to explain, but Suki cut him off.

"I-I got the joke, Sokka and you aren't making me feel much better," Suki said as she glumly plopped herself down at the kitchen table.

"Between you and me, Mai and I had slipped some cactus juice into Zuko's apple juice at dinner last night," Sokka admitted.

"Well, that would explain why he volunteered when they asked for a singer to serenade the restaurant," Suki stated.

"Poor Ursa…" Sokka mumbled, reflecting on the girl's embarrassment at her father's singing performance and how it made him almost regret slipping some alcohol into his friend's beverage. "But anyway, Suki, why don't you just prove to everyone that you are a lot of fun, I don't even get why they think you aren't in the first place, you're the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors for crying out loud!"

"You're right, Sokka! I am!" Suki exclaimed in confidence, "But how do I show them that I am fun, they aren't going to ask me to babysit unless something where the rest of you are busy comes up."

"It happens more than you'd think," Sokka said with a shrug.

"I know!" Suki declared.

"Oh boy…" Sokka muttered beneath his breath.

"I'll invite them to have a sleepover here!" Suki exclaimed, the idea coming to her like a light bulb had literally appeared above her head.

"Oh, okay, invite them over to sleepover so they can set the whole house on fire and bleed to death, sounds ab-so-flipping-lutely fantastic, Suki," Sokka mumbled back.

"That was under your watch, not mine, Sokka," Suki replied and Sokka rolled his eyes.

"Okay, well you can't have boys and girls sleepover in the same house, it's the rules of society, Suki," Sokka stated.

"Ugh, but we technically had hundreds of sleepovers while we traveled with each other," Suki argued.

"Yeah…sleepovers…" Sokka said with a mindless simper on his face, spacing out with memories as Suki's face turned beat-red.

"Sokka no! Not _those_ kinds of sleepovers!" Suki shouted, "Not in tents…" Suki gritted through her teeth.

"Okay, well you still can't have a mixed gender sleepover, it's a societal no-no! Society excused us because we kind of saved them all from being burnt into a pile of ashes," Sokka explained, "Just invite the girls and do…whatever it is…girls do at sleepovers…"

"That's a fantastic idea, Sokka! Thank you!" Suki exclaimed in excitement as she gave her husband a peck on the cheek and raced off to find their messenger hawk, which Sokka had named Hawky in honor of the old messenger hawk he had during his teenage travels. She drafted a letter to her longtime friends: Toph, Zuko, Aang, and Katara that read:

_Dear Katara and Aang/Zuko/Toph,_

_ Since yesterday you claimed to think that I was so boring, I wanted to see what your daughter thought. So, I planned a sleepover for all the girls at my house! I was hoping that you could drop them off at Sokka and my house around seven tonight. Hope she can make it!_

_ Love, _

_ Suki_

Suki then licked the envelopes closed, stamped them with a scarlet letter, rolled them up, and slipped them into the letter capsule that was tied around the bird's neck then sent it off. She patiently awaited, and eventually the bird returned with three returned letters.

_Dear Suki,_

_ Kya would love to come to your house and sleepover with Lin and Ursa. I just hope you aren't getting in over your head. Last time they were there they kind of burnt half your home to the ground and nearly flooded it. Good luck to you! Aang and I will be there to drop her off!_

_ Love,_

_ Katara_

Suki smiled at her success at Kya coming, now to unravel the next two.

_Dear Suki,_

_ Thanks for inviting Ursa, she's very excited to come. Though, I don't remember calling you boring, but then again, I don't remember much anything of what happened last night; another reason to keep Sokka's cactus juice away from the girls. I'll see you at seven._

_ Love,_

_ Zuko _

Suki grinned once more, two down, one to go; she opened the next envelope and pulled the slip of paper out.

_ Dear Aunt Suki,_

_ Mom can't read; she's blind. I think you're turning into Uncle Sokka, forgetting things like that. I read it to her though, she told me to write to you that I'd love to go or something like that, and that I promise I won't misbehave and I'll be on my best behavior and all that stuff that I usually nod along to and don't listen to, and this is the only part I remembered to write from what you said, since I spaced out. She also told me to tell you that she thinks you have lovely handwriting._

_ Love,_

_ Lin_

Suki face-palmed at her forgetfulness, but quickly threw the thought aside to revel at the fact that all three of her invitees RSVP'd with a yes. Now what she had to do was plan out some fun things to do with the girls to prove that she, in fact, was not boring. Aunt Suki would become their favorite by the time their stay was over.

"Sokka, what do you think I should do to entertain the girls while they're here?" Suki asked her husband, as he flipped down his newspaper.

"Do I look like a ten-year-old, little, girl to you?" Sokka grumbled back sardonically, peering over the paper.

"They're all coming, just to let you know," Suki added and Sokka glowered.

"Why don't you take them down the street to that movie theater," Sokka suggested, wanting to get them out of the house to prevent any more catastrophic wreckage.

"That's a great idea!" Suki exclaimed.

"Yup, I'm full of 'em," Sokka said as he flipped his newspaper back up and continued reading it.

"Sokka, the only thing playing there is Ember Island Player movies…" Suki groaned.

"Well, it's better than nothing," Sokka said.

"Aang was a woman in the last performance we saw by them," Suki reminded.

"Yeah, but they did have good effects, and if they didn't scare us all by killing Zuko and making us lose the war the night before the comet, it would've been funny," Sokka confessed. "To be honest, I'd get a kick out of it now if they were playing that. I think you should go check it out."

"Okay, I guess I'll give it a shot," Suki agreed with a shrug. She then went to the kitchen to start making snacks, then went off to their only guest room and set up three spots for each of their girls to sleep on. Suki then walked a few blocks down to Republic City's cinema and went up to the matinee. The sign was up for only one screening tonight, being it a Thursday, and movie business being slow on weeknights. The only movie being played on the silver screen tonight was The Making of Republic City: An Ember Island Player Production. Suki stuck out her tongue at the thought of how these people would screw up the facts of the sensitive subject of Republic City's creation. That was not one of her and her friends' prouder moments. Everything worked out fantastically in the end, but the road getting there had been very bumpy, even if it was only a week.

"Four tickets to…the only movie available, I suppose," Suki requested.

"Fourteen yuans, ma'am," The clerk replied as Suki sighed and handed the man the appropriate amount of money.

"…You're Suki, aren't you?" The man said with a glint of being starstruck glowing in his eyes.

"That's me," Suki replied with a grin, used to the recognition from the time she was about sixteen or seventeen.

"Well, thank you," The man said and Suki laughed.

"You're welcome, but the ones to really thank are the avatar and the fire lord," Suki replied.

"You helped stop that war too, so my gratitude and appreciation stays," The man replied and Suki smiled as she tucked the tickets into her coat pocket.

"Well, you are very welcome," Suki replied as she waved goodbye the man and began her way back home. A short amount of time flew by and finally the first guest's knock at the door was heard.

"Suki, door," Sokka called, still having has feet kicked up while reading the paper.

"I'm getting it Sokka," Suki sang back as she pulled open the door.

"Hi, Suki, how're you doing?" Aang said.

"Good, thanks, Aang," Suki said.

"I really do hope you know what a daunting task it is you're taking on," Katara said with a sigh as she handed her daughter her bag.

"Well, you guys did issue the challenge," Suki replied.

"Where's that lazy brother of mine?" Katara then asked with a sneer.

"I am not lazy!" Sokka shouted and Katara just raised an eyebrow at him as she gave a laughing look to Suki and Aang.

"Sokka, you won't even get up and say hi to us," Aang stated.

"Hi," Sokka said curtly, "You happy now?"

"Yes, it was such an enthusiastic greeting," Katara called back.

"Katara, I know you're my sister, but sarcasm is my thing, okay?" Sokka shouted back and Katara just rolled her eyes. "Alright, well, good luck to you, Suki. Thanks for having her."

"No problem, we're going to have fun, right Kya?" Suki said.

"Sure, Aunt Suki," Kya replied.

"See you tomorrow, Suki. Bye Sokka!" Aang called as he gave Suki a hug goodbye and Katara also gave her sister-in-law a farewell embrace and they hopped back on Appa to return home to Air Temple Island.

"You can just put your bag down upstairs in the guest room, okay, Kya?" Suki told her niece and Kya nodded happily and dashed upstairs to put her bag away. A few minutes later the next knock was heard at the door and Suki went to answer once again, Kya beside her this time.

"I can't believe you sent me a letter, Fan-Face," Toph snarled with a snort of laughter.

"You sent Toph a letter! Ha! I learned that lesson about thirty years ago," Sokka laughed from the other room.

"You now see why I dubbed him lazybones?" Toph said with a smirk.

"Hey!" Sokka called.

"Well, here's Lin, I hope she doesn't damage your house too badly," Toph teased as she put her hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"Nah, it'll be fun," Suki said.

"Well, okay, I gotta get back on duty, I've got the nightshift at the downtown station tonight. I'll see…well…we'll meet again tomorrow, bye," Toph said as she gave Lin a light punch on the arm and went back off to work.

"Hey, Lin!" Kya said happily, "Here, now we just gotta wait for Ursa, Aunt Suki said put our bags up in the guest room. An hour then passed and the final knock was heard at the door.

"Sokka, I don't suppose you're going to get this one?" Suki asked sarcastically.

"You didn't suppose right," Sokka called back as Suki rolled her eyes and got the door one last time for the night.

"Hey, Suki," Zuko said as Suki greeted him.

"Hi, Zuko," Suki replied with a smile.

"The thing that bothers me most about being Fire Lord is having to fly over here every time we want to see you guys," Zuko confessed.

"Why don't you just move here, Zuko?" Sokka called.

"Gee, I don't know Sokka, would you like to take up being Fire Lord then? I hope you have fun with being up to your eyeballs in paperwork, sleeping three hours a night, barely escaping death once a week, and living in constant fear of your family and friends being assassinated!" Zuko screamed in annoyance as Suki just looked at him wide eyed.

"Maybe you should stop by your uncle's on the way back too, you could definitely use a cup of tea there, buddy," Sokka called back and Zuko took a deep breath.

"Daddy…" Ursa grumbled, her hand on her face and Zuko sighed.

"Sorry," Zuko muttered, "Okay, me or Mom will be back tomorrow to pick you up, okay, Ursa?"

"Okay, Daddy…" Ursa groaned.

"Are you going to be alright?" Zuko asked.

"Yes, Daddy, for the ten-millionth time, I'm sure Aunt Suki can handle things," Ursa grumbled.

"…Alright, have fun, I love you," Zuko said as he leaned over and gave his daughter a kiss on the top of her head, earning a laugh from Lin.

"Okay, Daddy…you can leave now," Ursa said and Zuko just cleared his throat.

"Oh, ugh…okay…" Zuko mumbled, "Bye Suki, good luck with them, they're a handful, see you later Sokka, it was nice seeing you," Zuko said sarcastically.

"And yourself, Zuko!" Sokka called back.

"Okay, bye, Zuko!" Suki said as Zuko reluctantly took off. Suki then turned to the girls with a wide grin on her face.

"You okay, Aunt Suki?" Lin asked suspiciously.

"We're going to go see a movie!" Suki said excitedly as she presented the girls with their tickets.

"Really?" Kya exclaimed, "I've never been to one!"

"Me neither, they don't have a theater in the Fire Nation!" Ursa exclaimed in anticipation.

"Mom never took me to one because she can't see it anyway, and they're silent, so…" Lin said, "But they sound like fun!"

"What movie are we seeing?" Kya asked, on the edge of her seat.

"We're going to see a movie about how Republic City was made by your dads, Kya and Ursa," Suki replied.

"Dad never talks about this one," Kya said with a shrug.

"Neither does my dad," Ursa replied.

"Come to think of it, I don't think I've heard this story either," Lin added and Suki gave a nervous smile.

"Well…today is your lucky day then!" Suki said happily, "Come on, we'd better get going, wouldn't want to be late, now would we?" Suki said as they all headed down the lively streets of Republic City down to the theater. Suki presented the same man with the tickets and sent the girls in to be seated as she bought them each a soda and large popcorn to share. Though she nearly went bankrupt with the absurd cost of the snacks there. She then too took her seat next to the girls in preparation for the movie to begin, biting her nails that they wouldn't depict it too inaccurately. The bouncing picture from the projector than began a countdown with a circle in the back and what appeared to be a target on the center of the numerals. After the countdown ended, the movie faded in from black and the black and white, silent, subbed, motion picture began.

Two hours passed and the movie finally concluded, Suki's forehead was red from face-palming through the entire one-hundred-twenty minutes of it. She knew seeing this movie would be a bad idea.

"Uncle Aang wanted to kill my dad?" Was the first thing that left Ursa's mouth.

"No, no, no!" Suki cried, "Ugh…I knew this would happen, that movie got it all wrong."

"Good, because my dad would never kill Uncle Zuko and half the citizens in a colony! And he is _not_ a woman!" Kya exclaimed.

"That was a horrible movie!" Ursa yelled.

"But, guys, those effects were really impressive," Lin admitted and they all shook their head in reluctant agreement.

"Well…at least you saw a movie for the first time, right?" Suki said, elbowing Kya as she pouted.

"I guess so…" Kya grumbled back.

"Okay, so the movie was kind of a bummer, I know, but why don't we go back to my house and we can do something else fun? I baked cupcakes!" Suki suggested and the girls' faces all lit up like Christmas trees. "But, we will not be throwing them at one another!"

"Okay, why didn't you say so, Aunt Suki!" Lin exclaimed as she grabbed Suki by the wrist and began racing down the sidewalk back to her house. Upon arriving back at the house Suki sent them all back up to the room and told them to wait on the cupcakes and milk, that she'd bring them up for them. While Suki was fixing their treat, the girls did a little exploring of their own throughout the guest room. Suki had laid out a little rug with a blanket and pillow for each of them in the middle of the floor and the room was painted a very, light, green, and had paintings hung of baby turtleducks all over the room.

"Let's look in the closet! It'll be like a scavenger hunt!" Lin exclaimed.

"I don't know, Lin, that's pretty snoopy. Plus, Aunt Suki and Uncle Sokka hardly ever let me in this room…" Kya muttered.

"Oh, come on, you're acting like Tenzin, let's just look around a little. They wouldn't make it a secret if there wasn't something worth hiding," Lin said smugly.

"Fine," Kya agreed reluctantly with a sigh.

"Okay, I'll help you look too," Ursa said, succumbing to her friends' peer pressure. Lin then thrust open a closet door and found a few unopened packages stacked on the floor.

"I wonder what these are for?" Lin said in curiosity.

"Lin, do not open it!" Kya ordered.

"Stop acting like Tenzin," Lin said, sticking her tongue to her.

"I think Kya's got a point, Lin, they're unopened for a reason," Ursa reasoned, but Lin Beifong didn't ever listen to reason. She unwrapped the carefully wrapped, dusty gift and pulled out the card.

"It is polite to read the card first, I know that much," Lin said with a simper. She then pulled open the card from its envelope and started to read it aloud, "Congratulations-Love, Zuko and Mai."

"It's from my parents?" Ursa said, curiosity now captivating her too.

"Apparently, I wonder why it hasn't been opened," Lin said with a shrug as she tossed the gift to the side, "I want to see if one of these is from my parents," Lin said as she took another card from a gift and read it to her friends. "Additions to the family are great, good luck to you both-Love, Katara and Aang."

"My parents too…" Kya muttered, "Additions to the family? I don't even get it."

"Let's see this one," Lin said as she pulled apart the string of another gift to take the card. "Don't break him or her, you'll do great, Snoozles and Fan-Face-Love Toph."

"What about your dad?" Ursa asked.

"I guess that Mom gave this gift before she married my dad," Lin replied, "But what are these about…"

"Open the presents, maybe then the cards will actually make sense," Kya suggested and Lin complied, unwrapping the gift from her mother. As the wrapping paper was slowly torn off, a case of baby bottles, a teddy bear, a binky, and a little unisex outfit in a white, cardboard box was seen.

"It's…baby stuff…" Kya muttered.

"But why would Uncle Sokka and Aunt Suki have-" Ursa began as she picked up the stuffed bear, but she quickly silenced herself when Suki entered the room, holding a platter with three cupcakes and three glasses of milk.

"Here girls, I got your snack, I hope you all like chocolate icing, I-" Suki stopped at the sight of all the baby things scattered on the floor. Her eyes began to fog over with tears, and her throat swell up with a suppressed sob. She dropped the platter and glasses, letting them shatter to the floor as her world muted out. Her mouth stuttered like a flailing fish on suffocated words that wouldn't come out. Tears trickled down her cheeks as she looked at the girls horrified, guilty expressions, and she just fled the whole, painful, memory-inducing scene.

"Aunt Suki! We're sorry!" Kya cried as she started to run after her aunt, but Ursa stopped her.

"Don't go after her, Kya, she might get even more mad," Ursa said, desperately rubbing accumulating tears of guilt from her eyes.

"I didn't know…I didn't mean to make her cry!" Lin cried, her throat too blistering as she fought the tears back desperately, seeing crying as a die of weakness she couldn't bear to show.

"Lin, we told you to leave the packages alone and not to go sniffing around!" Ursa snapped.

"You told me to open it though!" Lin cried back.

"Whatever, it's all of our fault that Aunt Suki is crying! She tried to have a sleepover for us, took us to the movies, and made us snacks, and how do we repay her? By rummaging through her stuff!" Kya yelled, "The least we can do is clean up."

"But it's shattered glass, we're gonna get cut," Lin said, her voice sounding raspy from the suppression of an overflow of tears.

"Then I'll heal it, let's sweep it up, I know where the dustpan and brush are," Kya said determinedly. Meanwhile, Suki was on her bed with her face buried into a pillow, sobbing.

"…Suki?" Sokka said as he cracked open the door, a concerned look on his face.

"Go away, Sokka," Suki cried as Sokka then walked in and sat beside his wife on their bed, he put a comforting hand on her back.

"Honey, what's the matter?" Sokka asked, concern clearly etched on his features, as Suki just shook her head.

"Suki, please, tell me what's wrong? Are the girls okay?" Sokka said as he run his fingers through her hair affectionately, Suki just nodded, her face still stuffed onto the now drenched pillow. "Suki, honey, you're worrying me, please."

"Oh, Sokka!" Suki cried, lifting her tear-stung face to face him as she fell into his welcomed arms and began crying into his shoulder as he placed his hand on the back of her head.

"Shhh, come on now, it'll be alright, what's the matter?" Sokka said sympathetically.

"It's just…" Suki began, choking on her tears, "The baby," Suki choked out as Sokka bit his lip.

"It's alright," Sokka said, stroking Suki's hair, trying to overcome the emotion himself.

"No, Sokka, it's not," Suki cried, "Our child died and we can never have children, you will never be a father, you should've married someone else," Suki sobbed, as Sokka pulled away from the embrace for a moment and took Suki's head in his hands.

"No, now you listen to me," Sokka said sternly, "I don't ever want to hear you talk like that again, Suki. I love you, and there is no one else in the world that I would rather be married to, children or no children. I do want to be a father, and I know you want to be a mother, and we both loved that baby of ours even though he never made it into this world, but that is not your fault, that is no one's fault, and I will always love you, Suki, no matter what."

"Sokka, I-I…" Suki said, beginning to calm down, "I love you too, Sokka, but it just hurts so much, the girls found the baby shower presents that I never opened, and-"

"I know, I know, it hurts. It hurts me too, seeing that room every day, I know. But the girls didn't know, Suki, they were just curious," Sokka said, "And that's why we have them, we may not have any children of our own, but we have them, and I don't know about you, but I love those kids."

"Me too," Suki said tearfully.

"So, are we still giving them the least boring sleepover of their lives?" Sokka said, brushing one, last, strand tear off his wife's cheek with the palm of his hand.

"You bet," Suki said with a sincere smile as she gave Sokka a kiss.

"Come on," Sokka said as he urged her, holding her hand and walking back to the room.

"Girls!" Suki exclaimed at the sight of them with the broom, trying to sweep up the glass.

"Aunt Suki! We are so, so sorry!" Kya cried, tears welling in her eyes.

"It's alright, girls," Suki said calmly, "But get away from this sharp glass before you hurt yourselves!" Suki scolded as she took the broom.

"Here, I'll clean this up," Sokka said as he took the broom from his wife and the dustpan from Ursa.

"Come here, girls," Suki said as she brought them over to the bedside and had Ursa sit beside her on her left, Lin on her right, and her niece on her lap, her arms around the two girls at her side.

"Aunt Suki, I am really, really sorry, I shouldn't have touched your things!" Lin said, her tough mask breaking as tears began flowing from her face.

"Lin!" Suki exclaimed, "Aw, it's okay, it's okay," Suki calmed as she rubbed her shoulder, "But you're all probably wondering why we have these things…." Suki began with a sigh, "The truth is…Uncle Sokka and I had a baby, your cousin, Kya. But our son didn't make it past his birth and this was supposed to be his room and those were his presents, we were always too upset to tell you, so I hope you can forgive us."

"Aunt Suki, I'm so sorry," Ursa said distraughtly.

"Though, I was devastated to lose my baby and that I'll never have children of my own, Uncle Sokka helped me realize that I have you guys, and you'll always be like my own to me," Suki said as all the girls all gave her a hug, "I love you girls, very much."

"We love you too, Aunt Suki," Kya said, misty-eyed.

"Yeah, we all love you, Aunt Suki," Ursa agreed, also wiping away tears.

"Me too," Lin said, foggy-eyed, showing her hardly visible soft side, "And there's one thing that's for certain, you're certainly not boring and you are definitely a ton of fun."


	6. Zuko

_Zuko_

He was stuck with them the most often. Mostly because Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph all lived in Republic City and were directly involved in its government. They were constantly having to do trials and stay for long meetings the entire day, not wanting to leave the kids alone that long. He was only pulled into very important matters concerning Republic City, or for a foreign affairs discussion. Not that he didn't love the kids deep down, _but they were such a hassle_. So, yet again, here he was, watching Lin, Kya, Bumi, and Tenzin, along with his own daughter, Ursa.

Zuko always got vibes that the children weren't particularly fond of him. It hurt him a bit, but it was nothing he wasn't used to. Not that this was true, the kids all loved Uncle Zuko, but they had a very… _special_ way of showing it.

His wife, Mai, was also of no help-at all. She always locked herself in their bedroom when the kids were over, sighing and complaining about her annoyance.

"Daddy, are Lin, Bumi, Tenzin, and Kya coming over today?" Ursa said eagerly as she busted open Zuko's office door, startling him, causing him to jump and spill all the ink all over the papers he was signing. Zuko relinquished a sigh as he held his breath and fought back his temper.

"Yes, Ursa, they're coming a little later tonight," Zuko answered as he tried to shake the ink off the document.

"Okay! What should I do in the meantime?" Ursa asked as she hopped up and down, using her father's desk to bounce up higher. Zuko pressed his fingertips to his eyes in tedious frustration.

"Um, how about you…" Zuko said, trying to think of something to get her out of his hair for an hour or so, so he could finish his paperwork, _"Go capture the avatar…" _Zuko thought sarcastically, as he scoffed to himself at his father's cruel way of _getting him out of his hair_. He suddenly felt a pang of guilt for trying to shoo her off.

"How about I what?" Ursa asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"You could go see what your mother is up to?" Zuko suggested.

"Okay!" Ursa agreed.

"But I promise I'll play with you a bit later, okay?" Zuko said, a tone of guilt in his voice.

"That's okay, Daddy, my friends are coming, you don't have to," Ursa said with a grin as she skipped off. Zuko pouted a moment in jealousy, but swiftly shook it off and resumed progress on his seemingly incessant amount of paperwork. The time slowly passed as Zuko began work on his last set of documents, he stretched and rubbed the sand from his eyes as he picked up the quill pen to give his signature on the paper, when the door slammed open. It was used with too much force to be his daughter again. He closed his eyes and put his face into his hands.

"What is it, Mai?" Zuko asked his wife, knowing it was she at the door.

"Ursa, the curtains!" Mai snapped.

"Again?" Zuko groaned, looking up at her.

"Yes, and there are only so many times we can replace them! That fabric is expensive, Zuko!" Mai said.

"Did anything else in the room catch fire? Well, at least she didn't get hurt," Zuko said reflectively.

"It wasn't even fire this time! She took my knives and used the curtains as a dartboard," Mai explained, aggravated.

"She what?" Zuko exclaimed, "She could've been killed!"

"Zuko, I think she can handle some knives, I've been training her for years," Mai said, deadpanned.

"But not alone! What if she accidentally stabbed herself or something!" Zuko said in anxiety as he stood up from his chair, running fingers through his tied-up hair.

"Zuko, she isn't an idiot," Mai grumbled, "I mean, I know she's got half of you in her, but still."

"You're _so funny_, Mai," Zuko replied, smiling wryly at her as she crept up behind him, putting her arms around him.

"Come on, isn't that enough paperwork? You're going to work yourself to death, take a break," Mai coaxed as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I will, I'm almost finished, I just have one more set of papers to sign," Zuko replied.

"Alright, you know you worry me, I feel like I haven't seen you get a wink of sleep since the day you took up the throne. You've had dark circles beneath your eyes ever since you were seventeen," Mai said concernedly to her husband.

"I sleep better now than I did then, I mean at least-" Zuko began to reply, before he was interrupted by the shrills of children, and a gust of wind, sending all of the documents he'd just spent the last eight hours signing, blowing into the wind in various directions.

"Stay away from me, Lin!" Tenzin shouted as he hid behind Zuko.

"My papers!" Zuko cried as Lin ducked into the room, giggling.

"You can run, but you can't hide, Twinkletoes Junior!" Lin shouted.

"Sure I can, the palace is enormous!" Tenzin answered, now hiding underneath Zuko's desk, as Zuko scrambled to pick up all his ruined work.

"Lin, did you find Tenzin?" Kya called, also peeping her head into the room, waterbending the ink all over the floor trying to hit Tenzin with it to make him come out of hiding.

"Aw, Kya!" Zuko cried as he hung his head in defeat.

"Oh, hi, Uncle Zuko!" Kya exclaimed as she gave him a hug.

"Hi," Zuko moaned, as he looked down at all the ruined papers, defiled on the ground.

"Zuko!" Katara exclaimed as she and her husband came into the room as well.

"We were trying to find you, the guard saw us in, and we couldn't figure out where you were," Aang said.

"Yeah…I was here…doing paperwork…as always," Zuko grumbled, "Looks like I'll be doing a lot tomorrow too," Zuko cried as he picked up a black stained scroll.

"More paperwork? It seems you're always signing something," Aang commented, "Wait…did my kids do this?"

"Kya, Tenzin!" Katara snapped as the two kids slowly crawled out from their hiding spaces.

"It's alright… they didn't mean it," Zuko groaned as he gave up on fixing the papers and succumbed to the fact he'd have to start all over.

"Yeah, it's not like he just spent literally the entire day working on them or anything. Nor did I want to spend time with my husband tomorrow, or he wanted to see his daughter, instead of having him work his brains out, burning candlelight, signing the _same_ papers…" Mai threw in her typical, cynical comment as she rolled her eyes.

"I am sorry, Zuko," Katara apologized and Zuko shrugged as Aang gave her a tap on the shoulder.

"You gotta get going?" Zuko suggested and Aang nodded.

"Thanks again for watching them, Zuko, we'll probably be back around midnight," Aang said, "I hope they don't give you too much trouble this time."

"Yeah, yeah, no problem," Zuko said teasingly as he shook his friend's shoulder, "And whatever happens-happens."

"Alright, thanks so much, Zuko, we'll see you in a bit," Katara said with a smile and nod as they went on their way to the council meeting.

"You know where I'll be if you absolutely need me," Mai said wryly as she gave her husband a peck on the cheek and headed upstairs, as Zuko sighed.

"Did you guys, um…eat anything?" Zuko asked the kids.

"Nope!" Kya answered.

"Are you hungry I guess then?" Zuko said.

"I'm starving!" Bumi exclaimed as he fell out of the closet, quickly followed by Ursa toppling over him, taking a coat down with her. Zuko just sighed in response.

"Okay, so you're all hungry then, I take it?" Zuko asked.

"Yes, if I don't eat soon I'm going to wither away and starve!" Lin cried, "Can we have some fire flakes on the side of our dinner?"

"Those are…um, rather hot for a kid your age," Zuko replied with a half smile, "But I can ask the cooks to get on making you some dinner. Why don't you kids go play until it's ready…I have some…cleaning up to do…"

"Okay, Daddy!" Ursa exclaimed, "Can I take them to feed the turtleducks outside?"

"Sure, I don't see why not," Zuko said with a shrug as he ruffled his daughter's hair and the five kids ran off to find the bread. They all ran through the field in the back of the palace, trying to catch up to the serene pond. After they'd all quit chasing each other, and had fallen on their backs laughing, Ursa grew a devious grin.

"Those kinds of looks are usually reserved for Lin," Kya stated as Ursa grabbed her by the hand and led her behind a tree as not to be overheard.

"I have an idea," Ursa said with a simper.

"What's that?" Kya asked, her interest being piqued.

"Well, my mom told me a story one time about this pond. She said that when she was about ten, her friend Ty Lee, and my aunt, Azula, played a prank on her and my dad," Ursa began to explain.

"What was it?" Kya asked, her excitement growing.

"Well, my aunt told my dad and mom that they were gonna play a game, that you had to knock the apple off the other person's head somehow, but really, my aunt lit the apple on my mom's head on fire, which caused my dad to freak out and push her into the pond so she wouldn't catch fire," Ursa finished, giggling as Kya grew a grin in response.

"So, where are you headed with this?" Kya said, grinning from ear-to-ear.

"Well, Ty Lee and my aunt did it because they knew my mom and dad liked each other, who else do we know like each other?" Ursa said, folding her arms over her chest with a cocky smirk.

"You and Bumi?" Kya guessed as Ursa's eyes bolted wide and her face beamed bright red.

"N-no! What gave you an idea like that? That-that is absurd! Bumi, he-he's just my friend, a very good friend, tha-that's all!" Ursa flustered adamantly and Kya rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you say, Ursa," Kya said as she put a hand on her friend's shoulder, smiling sarcastically, "Well, the second most obvious future couple, would have to be Tenzin and Lin."

"Exactly, they obviously like each other so- …Wait a minute, did you just…? Hey! Kya, I told you-" Ursa began.

"Yeah, yeah, you're not in love, I know," Kya said, cutting her off, "So, are we doing this or not?" Kya said as she picked an apple from the tree above.

"You bet," Ursa answered as the two girls walked over to their other friends who were still lying on the ground.

"Hey, guys, wanna play a game?" Ursa asked.

"Yes!" Bumi exclaimed emphatically.

"Hush up, Bumi, it's not your turn," Ursa snapped and Bumi pouted.

"Sure, I'll play a game, I love winning," Lin said arrogantly as she sat up.

"I guess I'll play too," Tenzin agreed apathetically.

"Good, follow us, we'll show you how it goes," Ursa said as she waved her hand for them to follow she and Kya over to the pond.

"Okay, so Lin, you stand here in front of the pond, okay?" Kya said as she positioned her friend.

"And Tenzin, you stand here," Ursa stated, pointing to a spot about five feet in front of Lin.

"Okay, now the object of the game is to get the apple off the other person's head," Kya explained as she placed the apple on top of her friend's head, Lin pouting. Kya then shot Ursa a cursory, signal glance as Ursa then leered and shot a little spark at the apple's stem, causing it to catch fire. Tenzin's eyes bolted open wide as he darted towards her, pushing her back into the pond, causing her to shout in surprise. Kya, Ursa, and now Bumi were looking on at their wet friends, laughing hysterically.

"It's just like what my dad did!" Ursa said, laughing.

"Aw, man, that was too good, Ursa," Bumi said, putting a hand on her shoulder as he wiped a tear from his eye from laughing so hard.

"You two are dead meat!" Lin screamed as she stood up, shaking off, "I'm soaked!"

"Father will hear of this!" Tenzin grumbled.

"Oh, calm down," Kya said, "We're just having a little fun, here," Kya said as she waterbent their clothes dry.

"Are you okay?" Zuko cried as he darted to where the kids were, after hearing the yelp from outside.

"Ugh, we're _fine_, Daddy!" Ursa moaned at her father's embarrassing, overprotective tendencies.

"Oh, ugh…okay, good," Zuko said, "I won't bother asking what all the screaming was for then," Zuko grumbled with a sigh, "Your food is ready now, by the way, so you'd best come and eat it now before it gets cold."

"Yes, food! I'm starved! I hope there's meat!" Bumi said excitedly.

"I swear you are more and more like your uncle every day, Bumi," Zuko said with a half-smile as all the kids then followed him inside. As they all sat down at the long, dining table, everyone but Ursa couldn't help but be mesmerized at the extravagance of the whole dining room.

"Do you really eat here every night?" Tenzin asked.

"Tenzin, you've been here and ate here a million times…" Lin grumbled as she poked some vegetables with her fork.

"I know, but I'm still in shock every time I see it!" Tenzin exclaimed.

"Yeah, I eat here, _every night_. Dad insists that we eat as a family because he never did and he thinks it's important or something," Ursa said, rolling her eyes as she chugged down a glass of milk.

"Well, you're not eating as a family tonight," Lin stated with a shrug, as she bit into a piece of steak.

"I don't know, I guess you guys being over is the exception," Ursa replied, reciprocating the shrug.

"I say we do something funny to mess with Uncle Zuko again!" Lin suggested.

"Like when we put berries in the soap he uses to wash his hair and he got blue highlights for a week?" Kya said, laughing at the memory.

"Or like when we all hid from him the entire time and he thought we were dead and he started freaking out!" Bumi stated.

"Yeah, that one was funny, well…until he almost started to cry…" Lin pondered.

"Even I must admit it was pretty hilarious when you put hot sauce in his tea," Tenzin confessed with a chuckle.

"My favorite time is still the time we hid the key to his office room," Ursa said with a snigger.

"Those times were all hysterical, plus the countless other things we've done, but I have got the ultimate prank in store!" Lin said, as her voice began to lower below a whisper, as everyone eased in to soak in Lin's master prank.

"Remember last time we all were at my place?" Lin began as they all nodded, "Before my mom took us to the pro-bending stadium, we were talking about Ursa's grandpa…"

"I hate it when you call him that! He's awful and I don't want to be tied to him!" Ursa demanded, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Nonetheless, he _is_ your grandfather, like it or not!" Lin stated, "Anyway, not the point! We wanted to test our bravery, and what better way than by facing that guy! The guy only Uncle Aang could take out! Plus, Uncle Zuko will totally have a cow!"

"No, Lin, you don't get it! We _can't_ go to him!" Ursa insisted.

"You're just scared," Lin taunted.

"My dad specifically warned me to never go near him, Lin! He was being dead serious!" Ursa claimed.

"Oh, whatever, your dad does that about _everything_! Live a little!" Lin cajoled.

"What do you guys think?" Ursa asked sternly.

"I do want to face him, if my dad could do it, so can I!" Bumi said courageously.

"Me too, I want to see what he looks like. I've always been curious…if he's as unnerving as people say," Kya stated.

"I kind of want to see him….to know what they talk about in school, Fire Lord Ozai…" Tenzin admitted, _even Tenzin_.

"Ursa, you really aren't going to spoil _everyone's_ fun, now are you? That's usually Tenzin's job, but even _he's _on board this time. Don't be a party pooper, come see your grandfather with us!" Lin said with persuasion.

"…Fine…" Ursa agreed reluctantly as a shadow of regret flickered in her amber eyes.

"Yes! I love you!" Lin squealed triumphantly as she gave Ursa a quick hug, "Now, you'll have to tell your dad some excuse so we can get into the prison."

"Fine…" Ursa grumbled reluctantly as her stomach twisted into a knot. She then tiptoed over to her father who was drinking a cup of tea while signing some papers. "Daddy?"

"What is it, sweetheart?" Zuko asked, barely looking up from the paper.

"Um….can we….go…play outside?" Ursa asked, while grinning and scratching the back of her head; she hadn't inherited her aunt's lying skills.

"It's pitch black out, can't you think of something else to do?" Zuko said as he looked to her.

"I guess, but…" Ursa trailed off, trying to pull out another excuse.

"Ursa, I'm sorry, I wanted to spend time with you today, but these papers got all messed up," Zuko said, feeling guilty again. Whatever he did for Ursa was never enough, he always felt that he was failing her as a father somehow and it drove him insane. He loved her more than anything and there was nothing he feared more than giving her the same childhood he had.

"Daddy, it's okay," Ursa assured, "We just wanted to go catch some lightning bugs, and we won't even be out long!"

"Oh, okay, I guess that's alright," Zuko said, his face softening, "Be careful though, alright? Have fun, okay?" Zuko said with a smile and Ursa's expression twisted into a guilt-driven, halfhearted smile.

"We will! Okay, bye, Daddy!" Ursa said she gave her father an embrace and rushed back over to her friends.

"What'd he say?" Lin asked anxiously.

"I told him we went to catch fireflies…" Ursa grumbled, "This isn't good, this feels wrong, this isn't a good idea, Lin."

"No, that's a perfect cover story! Nice work, pyromania-pants!" Lin applauded and Ursa just scowled.

"Now to the prison, I suppose," Kya stated.

"Yeah, where is it, Ursa?" Bumi asked.

"About a mile down the road, I'll use my firebending to light the way, it's dark," Ursa replied, downtrodden.

"Okay, I guess we better get going before I lose my nerve!" Tenzin insisted as they began their march to the prison. In about ten minutes of walking alone through the dark the kids finally reached the prison. When they stopped at the gates, Kya slapped her hand to her forehead.

"We're so stupid!" Kya exclaimed, "They aren't going to let five kids into the prison!"

"That's where you're wrong, Kya, my dear," Lin said with a grin as she lead them forward to the eerie prison doors. Lin then cleared her throat, "Princess Ursa has orders by the Fire Lord to see Ozai! He said we could come along!"

"Lin! Are you nuts?" Ursa shouted, her eyes bolting hide open as Lin just stepped on her foot to silent her.

"Are you sure about that, Miss Beifong?" The guard asked dubiously.

"Yes, direct orders," Lin replied as the guard made a perplexed expression, but just shook his head and started rolling the lever to open the door, "What I tell ya?"

"Lin Beifong, you never cease to amaze me," Kya answered as they all stepped forward into the dingy, unnerving prison, sending a deep chill down all of their spines.

"Okay, now you know where he lives, time to go!" Ursa said.

"No!" Bumi snapped as Ursa just frowned.

"Where…where is Fire Lord Ozai?" Tenzin asked.

"He's at the very top, far away from all the other prisoners upon _the other prisoners' requests_," Ursa answered bitterly. The guards all questioned them as they made their way through the creepy halls of the prison, but Lin just proposed the same lie that they all doubtfully bought into and granted them reluctant permission to proceed. As they approached nearer and nearer to Ozai's location, Ursa's nerves began to bundle. After climbing many stairs, and passing many cells, the children finally arrived at their destination. The old man looked up at the kids, a blank, nothingness gleaming from them. There was no spark of anything, no hatred, no passion, nothing.

"I see my granddaughter has returned to visit me, how sweet," Ozai muttered, as Ursa held her breath, his emotionless, dark, cruel aura unsettled her. "And you brought friends, lovely."

"I've heard stories about you!" Lin shot at him accusatively.

"Did you now, young lady?" He asked with a snort. The decades of sitting in a lonely prison cell had not worn away his desire to manipulate others.

"Yeah! You are a terrible person!" Lin called out.

"Who are you to say? You're probably just as bad as me, you're no one to judge," Ozai replied and Lin just blew a raspberry at him. "Did my son send you to me?"

"No," Ursa spat bluntly.

"That's a shame, I miss him," Ozai scoffed.

"No you don't," Ursa said.

"I see potential in you, Ursa, you should see me more often, I could help you become something more, achieve your full potential," Ozai offered.

"No," Ursa said curtly.

"Your father has you brainwashed into the mindset of the weak, he won't let you grow to your fullest strength, but I could," Ozai continued.

_"He'll tell you things, things that sound good, but they're all lies, he's trying to mess with you, he'll toy with your emotions, anything, but you can't trust a word he says, Ursa. He wants to take you from me, and I won't have it, he took everything else from me, but he isn't getting his hands on you. Promise me you'll stay clear away, he'll try anything for you to fall into his trap." _The words of her father echoed in Ursa's head. They were the words he spoke to her the day after he took her to see him for the first and final time.

"No, you're a liar," Ursa said, though she could feel herself cracking.

"I'm not, I see potential in you, I've heard stories of how you're more prodigal a firebender than my kooky daughter," Ozai said.

"From what I've heard she's only kooky because of _you_!" Bumi yelled.

"Who are you children anyway?" Ozai snorted.

"These are _my friends_," Ursa said defensively and protectively as she stepped in front of them, "They're the kids of the avatar and some of my father's other friends."

"How cute," Ozai laughed, stroking his gray beard, "Your father was weak and pathetic, he couldn't even kill me."

"You should be on your knees thanking us that our dad didn't kill you!" Kya screamed.

"Why, so I could lie in here and rot?" Ozai said, "Ursa, dear, would you please let me out? There are so many things I could teach you, correct you on, as I'm sure your father has filled you with nothing but lies."

"No!" Ursa cried, "Guys, let's go!"

"Oh, come on, it's funny to poke fun at the old guy. He's a pathetic loser, he's like nine-hundred years old, he can't hurt us," Lin said.

"I can't stand being around him! My dad said to stay away, that's enough!" Ursa snapped.

"Oh come on, your dad is a party pooper! I love Uncle Zuko, but he does say no to everything," Lin stated.

"That sounds like my son," Ozai commented, "Why don't you prove to him and my granddaughter that there's nothing to fear-that is, unless you're afraid yourself, young lady?"

"I'm not afraid of anything!" Lin demanded.

"I didn't think you were the type to. I think you should teach your friends a lesson about being cowards," Ozai stated.

"I will! You are a coward, he may be messed up, but he's right about that! I'm letting him out, just to prove it to you!" Lin said determinedly as Ursa's eyes bolted opened.

"Lin! Lin, no!" Ursa said.

"Lin, Ursa's right, you're taking it too far!" Kya shouted.

"Ugh, you're a scared-y-cat too? Now I really have to, what do you think he's going to do?" Lin laughed overconfidently as she metalbent the bars to Ozai's cell opened and for the first time in sixteen years Fire Lord Ozai was out from prison. He stepped out of the cell and started to laugh.

"You really are a fool, aren't you, child?" Ozai said, glaring down at Lin, "You should've listened to your friends, don't you know how many people I've murdered?" Ozai said, in a chilling tone, his eyes cutting like knives into her glare as he shoved her aside with more strength than a sixty-year-old man should have, especially after sitting in a cell for over a decade and a half.

"Lin!" Ursa cried as she ran to her side, Lin on the brink of tears as Ozai began his way down the stairs, going for an escape.

"Stop him!" Kya cried as Ozai fled through the stairs, making it swiftly past each guard, successfully _getting away_.

"No, no, no! He got away! You let him out!" Ursa cried as her hands ran through her hair, and she took Lin by the arms and shook her in panic, "You are _such_ an idiot, Lin!"

"What do you think the old guy is going to do? He can't bend!" Lin shouted.

"So! You don't think he can hire an assassin or something?" Ursa shouted, "What if he…_Daddy_…We have to go right now!" Ursa screamed as she ran as fast as she could.

"Lin, I can't believe you let out _Fire Lord Ozai_! This is the dumbest thing you have ever done in your life!" Bumi shouted as they all ran after Ursa.

"I still don't think he can do anything!" Lin shouted while sprinting. They kids ran as fast as they possibly could, Ursa's heart pounding in her chest.

_"Lin could be such a fool,"_ She thought as she charged faster towards the palace. Meanwhile, Zuko was just beginning to become worried about how long the kids were taking catching fireflies, so he'd gotten up to check on them outside.

"Guys?" Zuko asked as he searched the entire perimeter of the palace outdoors. He gave up on looking outside and assumed they'd gone back in, and went to ask Mai if she'd seen them, but she told him she hadn't laid eyes on them since they arrived, and as Zuko went down to the kitchen, to see if the kids were busy at the dessert bar, that's when he saw him. Standing right there in the entryway of the palace's empty kitchen. Zuko inhaled a sharp breath, and a dread of fear swirled over him.

"I haven't been in my palace in many years," Ozai stated.

"Father," Zuko muttered, his wide eyes then narrowing, "Where is my daughter? Where are her friends?" Zuko shouted.

"Maybe I'll consider telling you if you hand over the throne immediately," Ozai replied, Zuko's breath was becoming rapid.

"This isn't funny, you tell me where my little girl is right now? If you harmed her or any of those kids, I swear," Zuko yelled.

"You'll what? Kill me? Go ahead, I've got nothing to live for-but revenge," Ozai answered.

"How did you even get out?" Zuko screamed flaring a fist full of fire at his father. He dodged it with impressive easy.

"A little girl used an impressive earthbending technique to open the bars in my cell after my granddaughter and her little friends paid me a visit," Ozai answered with a devilish smile.

"No…" Zuko muttered, "Where is she?"

"Your mother?" Ozai said, quirking an eyebrow.

"I'm done with your games, I'm a grown man now, you know what I'm talking about, the earthbending girl, what'd you do to her?" Zuko demanded fiercely, he couldn't believe this was happening. "What are you even going to do? You can't bend, you're an old man, I could take you out in a second!"

"You disgraceful, ungrateful, son of mine! Don't you realize I have men on all corners of the country who still have their allegiance sworn to me, where do you think these assassins are coming from? They have their allegiance sworn to me; I have people out there for you, Zuko. I may be incapable of personally doing things, but my loyal people aren't," Ozai explained. Zuko gritted his teeth, sometimes he'd wished that Aang had just offed his father while he could, he never halted taunting him.

"I couldn't care less what you do to me, I demand to know where my baby girl and her friends are, right, this instant," Zuko shouted firmly, growing more angry and panicked every passing second. His father had sworn revenge by taking his daughter's life the last time he was there, Zuko didn't even want to skim through the possibilities of what could have happened to her at his father's hands.

"I won't do a thing to the useless child if you abdicate the throne over to me," Ozai stated and Zuko clenched his fists in frustration.

"My daughter is not useless," Zuko spat back, falling into his father's trap of emotional manipulation, just as he had as a child and teenager.

"She is quite the firebender, I've heard. She's also one of the more bright ones of her little posse of children, she was adamant not to release me, the earthbender should be immediately disposed of, she's a nuisance," Ozai replied as Zuko desperately fought back the urge to attack his father, fearing that he'd only retaliate with his daughter's and his friends' children's lives.

"Just because _you_ thought that Azula and I were disposable tools doesn't mean that other parents don't love their children. You have always been sick and cruel and thought nothing of your own flesh and blood or anyone!" Zuko yelled, his fury growing. Ozai laughed at his son's statement.

"You've always been weak," Ozai grunted.

"No, you have. Caring about other people is anything but weakness," Zuko rebutted, "I've had enough of your games. Now you hand over those children before I call some guards to take you down."

"I wouldn't do that," Ozai grinned, "You don't know what will happen to those kids if you do that," Ozai fibbed, he hadn't the slightest clue where Ursa, Kya, Lin, Bumi, and Tenzin were or what they were doing; he didn't know they were on their way to the palace as he spoke. "Sit there and hush up or I'll kill them all, Zuko," Ozai ordered as Zuko clenched his teeth and fists so tight he was afraid his teeth would crush each other. He reluctantly obliged to his father's command, not wanting to risk the kids' lives.

"We have to do something!" Ursa cried as they stood outside the palace doors, finally having reached them.

"You don't even know if he's in there!" Lin grumbled.

"He is!" Ursa yelled, "He's going to hurt my parents if we don't do something!"

"I have to agree with Ursa here," Bumi stated, "I don't want to stand back and have something horrible happen to Unlce Zuko because we let an evil warlord out of his cell!"

"But what do we do?" Kya cried.

"We're all great fighters, he can't do anything," Tenzin spoke boldly as the group turned to him in surprise.

"Go on," Lin prompted.

"Well, like you said twenty times before you released him, he's an old man with no bending, we're five of the spawns of the greatest benders and fighters who ever lived, not to mention the avatar," Tenzin spoke valiantly, encouraging his friends.

"Tenzin is right!" Ursa agreed, "Now let's get in there and take him down!"

"Let's do it," Bumi said with a nod as he pulled a boomerang out from its pocket slung over his shoulder. The kids then stealthily made their way into and through the palace, looking for the hunchbacked, old tyrant in every room, their hearts pounding in their chests. Meanwhile, with Zuko and his father, Mai had heard the shouting and went down to see what all the ruckus was about.

"Zuko, what is going on? You need to stop yelling to yourself," Mai said as she yawned, standing there in her bathrobe, having been awoken. She finally entered the kitchen to see a man that only had appeared recently in some of her nightmares. She gasped at the sight. "Zuko…" Mai muttered in fear as she looked to him desperately, he defied his father's orders and stood up in anger.

"You won't touch her, not a finger!" Zuko screamed as Ozai then turned and grabbed a large steak knife that was placed on the counter.

"Zuko…" Mai muttered again, "How did he get out?" Mai said sternly.

"The kids," Zuko answered, gulping as Mai flicked out a blade from her wrist, and Zuko shook his head no. "He said he'll kill them if I try anything," Zuko stated, his voice cracking, "Mai, go back upstairs."

"No!" Mai cried as she stared at her father-in-law with the knife cupped in his hand.

"Mai, please," Zuko insisted, "It's bad enough Ursa is involved in this, please."

"Zuko, I am not leaving you down here alone with _him_," Mai gritted from her clenched teeth and forced back tears. Ozai just smirked, calculating a way to actually get a hold of those kids and either get on the throne or get rid of his granddaughter. "You better let my husband go, Fire Lord Ozai and if you harm one hair on my daughter's head, I'll make sure that you don't have a head left to be harmed."

"So this is who you married? The governor's daughter, decent choice. I'd heard stories of your wedding, but no one bothered to tell me to whom. You were Azula's friend, weren't you?" Ozai asked.

"Yes, I was your daughter's friend, the daughter you screwed up, now I'm married to the son whose face you maimed and if you any additional damage, I'll maim your face twelve times worse," Mai threatened with a guise of fearlessness as Ozai just chuckled.

"He'll be dead before you get to me," Ozai laughed, gripping the knife.

"Mai, _please_ go upstairs," Zuko begged, but of course, Mai still loyally refused to leave his side, as their daughter and friends' children loyally marched on towards their salvage.

"I told you he wasn't here!" Lin snapped in a whisper.

"Then where are my parents?" Ursa whispered back in rebuttal and Lin rolled her eyes.

"Is there anywhere we haven't looked?" Kya asked.

"Most places, this place is gigantic!" Bumi husked back.

"I don't think we checked the kitchen," Tenzin suggested.

"Why the heck would they go there?" Lin stated.

"I don't know, why not," Tenzin replied.

"It's worth checking," Ursa said with a nod as they all followed her sly lead to the palace kitchen. They all one-by-one stuck their heads by the creak in the door, surprised at what they saw.

"Tenzin was right!" Ursa exclaimed in a quiet voice and Lin pouted.

"Okay, we have to be sneaky about this, we don't want to get the wrong angle or attack to soon and then have no backup plan so-" Bumi began, when Lin interrupted.

"Charge!" Lin chanted as she kicked open the door and started lifting pieces of earth and flinging them at Ozai as he used his hands to cover his face.

"Lin, you're okay!" Zuko exclaimed.

"Might as well follow through!" Ursa said as she signaled her hand and everyone else followed her sign to attack as they charged forward into the kitchen. Tenzin airbended Ozai head-over-heels into the counter as Lin metalbent six pots and pans onto his head.

"I don't think so! You messed with Uncle Zuko enough!" Kya exclaimed as she waterbent some nearby water in a pitcher onto his face and Ursa firebent flames forward at him.

"Like father-like son!" Bumi grunted as he chucked his boomerang at Ozai's head he tried to stumble to his feet, being knocked down once more. Ozai then fell to the ground, dropping his knife, unconscious. Mai and Zuko just blinked in awe and exchanged impressed, stunned glances. Zuko then ran over and pulled all five of the kids into a hug, taking them all off guard.

"You all had me worried sick!" Zuko scolded, a single tear sliding off his cheek, he then pulled his daughter over to him, brushing a black lock of her hair from her face. "I told you to stay away from him, Ursa, I meant it."

"I know, I'm sorry, Daddy!" Ursa cried, a couple of tears falling from her eyes, "They wanted to see him, and I…I should've stood my ground and said no…"

"You all could have been killed!" Zuko shouted as they all stared at the ground. "And Lin, letting him out?"

"I thought he couldn't do anything! I'm sorry, Uncle Zuko! …I'm sorry, everyone…" Lin admitted, some tears dripping from her eyes as well, "I-I….I was wrong," Lin confessed, brushing aside her pride for once.

"At least no one got hurt, that's the good news," Mai said as she put her hands around her husband and daughter.

"Now I have to put my father _back_ in prison, how do I explain all of this to your parents?" Zuko snapped.

"Explain what?" Katara asked, tapping her foot at the door, as Zuko gulped and turned around.

"You're back early, Katara!" Zuko exclaimed.

"What happened, it looks like I had my battle with Ozai all throughout here," Aang remarked as he stepped next to his wife, followed by Toph.

"Funny story, Dad!" Bumi said with a laugh.

"Why are you all filthy?" Katara snapped, looking at her children.

"So, how was the meeting guys?" Zuko asked, trying to change the subject.

"Come on, Sparky, what happened?" Toph insisted.

"Lin let Ozai out of jail and he tried to kill us all!" Tenzin exclaimed and their eyes all widened as they turned to Zuko to confirm the tall tale.

"Yes, she did," Zuko said with a sigh, as he stepped aside so the unconscious Ozai could be visible.

"In the name of…LIN BEIFONG," Toph screamed as Lin swallowed hard, her mother didn't anger at her misbehaviors easily, but when she did, she was in for it.

"Mom, I didn't-" Lin began.

"NO, THIS IS TOO MUCH! ARE YOU CRAZY?" Toph screamed.

"Oh my goodness, are they alright?" Katara cried as she ran over to inspect her children.

"Are you alright, Zuko?" Aang said as he put a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I'm fine, Aang, the kids are alright too, they're actually the ones who saved us," Zuko confessed with a chuckle, as Aang rose an eyebrow.

"Are you okay too, Mai?" Aang asked and she nodded.

"I thought we beat this guy once already," Katara grumbled, all three of her kids in her arms.

"LIN, YOU ARE DEAD MEAT, WHEN YOUR FATHER HEARS YOU LET OUT FIRE LORD OZAI FROM HIS PRISON CELL!" Toph continued screaming.

"I'm going to go call some guards to have him locked back up," Mai said as she left the room promptly and Zuko pulled his daughter close, giving her a kiss atop her head.

"I'm just glad they're not hurt, he still swears…that he's going to kill her," Zuko said, his voice dropping below a whisper.

"He won't get her, Zuko," Aang assured.

"AND I DON'T CARE HOW TOUGH YOU THINK YOU ARE, YOUNG LADY, YOU DON'T LET INSANE PRISONERS OUT OF THEIR CELLS!" Toph continued shouting, "THE POOR GUARDS, IF THIS HAPPENED AT MY PRISON…LIN, YOU ARE LUCKY THAT YOU, UNCLE ZUKO OR ALL YOUR FRIENDS AREN'T DEAD!"

"But Mom, I mean…no one's bleeding, so at least there's that," Lin stated as the whole room drew silent. Then Katara started to giggle and the others joined in on the laugh. Even Toph began to laugh after a little while of restricting her grin.

"Okay, yes, no blood was shed, that is a plus," Toph said sarcastically as she ruffled her daughter's hair, "I'm lucky to have you guys, you know that."

"We're all lucky to have each other," Aang said, "I never thought we'd all take down Ozai together again, but I'm glad we're all still friends."

"We're all best friends," Katara corrected, smiling at them. Then Zuko smiled, looking at them all, Sokka and Suki also in mind, they were the only true friends he'd ever had, they'd always been there for him, through all the years. They all truly cared about each other and throw their own lives on the line for each other's safety in a heartbeat, all for one and one for all. He then spoke, with his signature half-smile.

"No, we're a family."

* * *

_Author's note-_

_I just wanted to say thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! I absolutely love getting feedback, every review seriously makes my day, so thank you so much! Also, thank you for just reading it! Thanks too to sticking with me! I really hope you enjoyed the story and I love writing about the gaang and their kids when they're older, and even though this story's over, I'll probably have other one-shots about them up as well! :D Thanks to everyone who subscribed too! I love you all! Just akfnkngjrnjktr thanks so much, it all means so much to me and egjnjktngjkrtgntrjk! XD I can't wait for LoK book 2 and hopefully we get more older gaang flashbacks!_

_Thanks again,_

_~Lotty_


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